I had much pleasure and satisfaction in my intercourse here with several individuals distinguished in the anti-slavery cause, some of whom I had met in 1837, during a short visit to New York on my way from the West Indies.  Among these, ought particularly to be mentioned the brothers Arthur and Lewis Tappan.  The former was elected president of the American Anti-Slavery Society on its formation, and remained at its head until the division which took place last year, when he became president of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.  His name is not more a byeword of reproach, than a watchword of alarm throughout the slave states; and the slave holders have repeatedly set a high price upon his head by advertisement in the public papers.  In the just estimation of the pro-slavery party, Arthur Tappan is abolition personified; and truly the cause needs not to be ashamed of its representative, for a more deservedly honored and estimable character it would be difficult to find.  In personal deportment he is unobtrusive and silent; his sterling qualities are veiled by reserve, and are in themselves such as make the least show—­clearness and judgment, prudence and great decision.  He is the head of an extensive mercantile establishment, and the high estimation in which he is held by his fellow citizens, notwithstanding the unpopularity of his views on slavery, is the result of a long and undeviating career of public spirit and private integrity, and of an uninterrupted succession of acts of benevolence.  During a series of years of commercial prosperity, his revenues were distributed with an unsparing hand through the various channels which promised benefit to his fellow creatures; and in this respect, his gifts, large and frequent though they were, were probably exceeded in usefulness by the influence of his example as a man and a Christian.

His brother Lewis, with the same noble and disinterested spirit in the application of his pecuniary resources, possesses the rare faculty of incessant labor; which, when combined, as in his case, with great intellectual and physical capacity, eminently qualifies for a leading position in society.  He unites in a remarkable degree, the apparently incompatible qualities of versatility and concentration; and his admirable endowments have been applied in the service of the helpless and the oppressed with corresponding success.  He has been from the beginning one of the most active members of the central Anti-Slavery Committee in New York, a body that has directed the aggressive operations against slavery, on a national scale, with a display of resources, and an untiring and resolute vigor, that have attracted the admiration of all, who, sympathizing in their object, have had the privilege of watching their proceedings.  Of those who have impressed the likeness of their own character on these proceedings, Lewis Tappan is one of the chief; and he has shared with his brother the most virulent attacks from the