The Harrisburg Delegation.
Pursuant to arrangement, the colored citizens of Philadelphia, met in the Wesleyan Church, Lombard street, for the purpose of receiving the delegates from the Harrisburg Convention; the Rev. Wm. T. Catto in the Chair, and Joseph C. Moore, Secretary.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. Joshua P. B. Eddy. After the President had stated the object of the meeting, the Rev. Stephen Smith, one of the Delegates, addressed the assembly, stating that they, (ten in number,) in obedience to the request of their constituents, convened together in Harrisburg, in the Shakespeare Saloon, on the 13th instant, with some fifty-five other delegates from the various counties of the State.
By a special resolution of the Convention (he said) it was agreed that there be $5,000 raised to carry on the object for which they had met. The city and county of Philadelphia promised to raise $2,000 of the above-mentioned sum. He sustained the same, by offering a resolution to that effect, which was unanimously adopted.
Mr. J. Ware read some of the resolutions adopted by the Convention, and stated that the delegation from Philadelphia had been constituted the medium to bear our petition to the Legislatureーappoint an agent or agents to canvass the State, and lay the claims of the disfranchised impartially before the people, both colored and white.
M. W. Gibbs, in a brief but eloquent speech, set forth the great necessity of raising the sum of $5,000 to promote the cause. He was followed by D. B. Bowser, who called upon the assembly to know if they would assist in the advancement of the enterprise. He received a hearty response from the audience: after which, in a brief and enthusiastic speech, showed the necessity of concerted and immediate action. J. J. G. BiasBias, James Joshua Gould

James Joshua Gould Bias (1807–60) was a physician and preacher living in Philadelphia. Born a slave in Maryland, he learned some medical knowledge while working with a physician there. When Bias obtained his freedom, he moved to Philadelphia, attending the Eclectic Medical School and graduating in 1852. He devoted much of his time before the Civil War tending to the medical and dental needs to fugitive slaves in Southeast Pennsylvania. Bias also was the pastor at the Bethel Church in Philadelphia. He played a leading role in the Colored Conventions movement, holding a number of positions. While Bias endorsed emigration, he rejected the policies of the American Colonization Society, rejecting its White leadership. “Our Philadelphia Letter,”(New York, N.Y.) Weekly Anglo-African, 7 July 1860; George F. Bragg, Jr., Men of Maryland (Baltimore: Church Advocate Press, 1925), 54–55; Michael Dickinson, “Dr. J. J. Gould Bias,” Colored Conventions Project, Coloredconventions.org. then made a few remarks, calling upon young and old, male and female, to lend their assistance, both physical, moral and pecuniary, to obtain our God-given rights. C. L. Redmond followed, on the great advantage of having the elective franchise, and the great disadvantage of our disfranchised condition; concluding with a resolution that there be a committee of three appointed to make arrangements for a public meeting. George W. Goines, Peter Lester, and Rev. Stephen Smith, were appointed that committee; after which the meeting adjourned, to be reassembled at the discretion of the committee.
Wm. T. CattoCatto, William T.

, Pres't.
Joseph C. Moore, Sec'y
Philadelphia, Dec. 18, 1848.