unjust, and a national disgrace. It was so
understood in Congress, and ruffled the equanimity of the
representatives of South Carolina and Georgia. Mr. Jackson, of
Georgia, distinguished himself in the debate by an elaborate defense
of the institution. He was especially annoyed that Dr. Franklin's name
should be attached to the memorial, "a man," he said, "who ought to
have known the constitution better."[31]

Dr. Franklin, though confined to his chamber, and suffering under a
most painful disease, could not allow the occasion to pass without
indulging his humor at the expense of Mr. Jackson. He wrote to the
editor of the _Federal Gazette_, March 23, 1790, as follows: "Reading,
last night, in your excellent paper, the speech of Mr. Jackson, in
Congress, against their meddling with the affair of slavery, or
attempting to mend the condition of the slaves, it put me in mind of a
similar one made about one hundred years since by Sidi Mehemet
Ibrahim, a member of the Divan of Algiers, which may be seen in
Martin's Account of his Consulship, anno 1687. It was against granting
the petition of a sect called _Erika_, or Purists, who prayed for the
abolition of piracy and slavery as being unjust. Mr. Jackson does not
quote it; perhaps he has not seen it. If, therefore, some of its
reasonings are to be found in his eloquent speech, it may only show
that men's interests and intellects operate, and are operated on,
with surprising similarity, in all countries and climates, whenever
they are under similar circumstances. The African's speech, as
translated, is as follows." He then goes on to make an ingenious
parody of Mr. Jackson's speech, making this African Mussulman give the
same religious, and other reasons, for not releasing the white
Christian slaves, whom they had captured by piracy, that Mr. Jackson
had made for not releasing African slaves.[32] There were inquiries in
the libraries for "Martin's Account of his Consulship," but it was
never found. The paper may be read in the second volume of Franklin's
Works, Sparks' edition, p. 518. None of Dr. Franklin's writings are
more felicitous than this _jeu d' esprit_; and it was written only
twenty-four days before his death.

In the midst of this period, when anti-slavery opinions were so
generally held by leading statesmen, the Constitution of the United
States was formed. It is due to the framers of that instrument to
state that the entire delegations from the Northern and Mi