to bear
  The yoke of servitude in foreign climes,
  Sustain.  Nor vainly let our sorrows flow,
  Nor let the strong emotion rise in vain;
  But may the kind contagion widely spread,
  Till in its flame the unrelenting heart
  Of avarice melt in softest sympathy—­
  And one bright blaze of universal love
  In grateful incense rises up to Heaven!

  “Form’d with the same capacity of pain,
  The same desire of pleasure and of ease,
  Why feels not man for man!  When nature shrinks
  From the slight puncture of an insect’s sting,
  Faints, if not screen’d from sultry suns, and pines
  Beneath the hardship of an hour’s delay
  Of needful nutriment;—­when Liberty,
  Is priz’d so dearly, that the slightest breath,
  That ruffles but her mantle, can awake
  To arms unwarlike nations, and can rouse
  Confed’rate states to vindicate her claims:—­
  How shall the suff’rer man his fellow doom
  To ills he mourns or spurns at; tear with stripes
  His quiv’ring flesh; with hunger and with thirst
  Waste his emaciate frame; in ceaseless toils
  Exhaust his vital powers; and bind his limbs
  In galling chains!  Shall he, whose fragile form
  Demands continual blessings to support
  Its complicated texture, air, and food,
  Raiment, alternate rest, and kindly skies,
  And healthful seasons, dare with impious voice
  To ask those mercies, whilst his selfish aim
  Arrests the general freedom of their course;
  And, gratified beyond his utmost wish,
  Debars another from the bounteous store!”

In this manner was the subject of this beautiful poem introduced to the notice of the public.  But I have no room for any further extracts, nor time to make any further comment upon it.  I can only add, that the commitee were duly sensible as well of its merits, as of the virtuous and generous disposition of the author, and that they requested John Barton to thank him in an appropriate manner for his offer, which he was to say they accepted gratefully.

At this sitting, at which ten members were present out of the twelve, a discussion unexpectedly arose on a most important subject.  The commitee, finding that their meetings began to be approved by many, and that the cause under their care was likely to spread, and foreseeing also the necessity there would soon be of making themselves known as a public body throughout the kingdom, thought it right that they should assume some title, which should be a permanent one, and which should be expressive of their future views.  This gave occasion to them to reconsider the object, for which they had associated, and to fix and define it in such a manner, that there should be no misunderstanding about it in the public mind.  In looking into the subject, it appeared to them that there were two evils, quite distinct from each other, which it might become their duty to endeavour to remove.  The