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 IV. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT. 
 
 ^ " 4 ^^/S'yJ 
 
 In presenting, their Second Annual Report, the Executive 
 Committee of the Massachusetts Abolition Society desire de- 
 voutly to acknowledge the continued favor of the Most High 
 in their efforts for the enslaved. The past has been a year of 
 trial and of seemingly great reverses to the anti-slavery cause 
 in this country ; but really a year of mercy and of progress. 
 In no previous year, it is believed, has more been done to 
 disencumber the cause of influences and obstacles that justly 
 hindered its progress, and at the same time, to settle the a6o- 
 lition mind in respect to the great principles and methods of 
 action both in church and state, whose adoption and vigor- 
 ous prosecution promise most for the speedy and peaceful 
 deliverance of the slave. In no previous year has the diffu- 
 sion, in the general mind, of anti-slavery principles and feel- 
 ings been more rapid or extensive. The conviction was 
 never so extensive or so deep, as at this moment, that slavery 
 cannot much longer live in this land. Indeed, the commit- 
 mitte greatly err, if the conviction is not quite prevalent both 
 at the north and the south, and daily becoming more so, that 
 the time is very near, when, in some way, and by some 
 means, a final blow is to be struck at the whole system. A 
 multitude of causes — the providence of God — the progress of 
 events in the commercial and political world — are conspiring 
 with the efforts of the friends of humanity to beget and ex- 
 tend and deepen this conviction, and to hasten the result. 
 The days of American slavery are numbered. 
 
 DEBT. 
 
 From the report of the treasurer, at the last anniversary, 
 it appeared that the society owed, in notes and bills payable, 
 most of which had not then arrived at maturity, the sum of 
 $1553 57. Besides this, it was stated that several hundred 
 dollars were due agents, which, it was then supposed, the 
 agents had pledges from friends of the cause in their several 
 
 
a. 
 
 .M^\a> 
 
 4 ^^> 
 
 fields, sufficient when collected, to pay. In this state of 
 things, had the committee been governed solely by a refer- 
 ence to pecuniary considerations, they would at once have 
 dismissed their agents, and turned their first and sole atten- 
 tion to the removal of the debt. The state of the cause, par- 
 ticularly the tide of political influence that was just then setting 
 in upon it, and threatening to sweep away all practical regard 
 for the slave, in the use of the elective franchise, with other 
 considerations, seemed to the committee to require that this 
 should not be done. They did, however, commence at once 
 such a curtailment of their operations as they thought the 
 interests of the cause allowed. In doing so, they dismissed 
 a part of their agents. Others whose term of service expired, 
 they did not re-appoint. In so doing, however, it was found 
 that the pledges referred to, did not cover the amount due 
 them. The same was found to be true in respect to others 
 who were continued in the field. In this way the committee 
 found their debt to be increased to nearly ^3000. During 
 the year, therefore, the committee have had to sustain the 
 paper of the society, which has at no time sustained itself, 
 and which, in consequence of the political whirlwind reducing 
 its number of subscribers, has been a heavier burden upon 
 the treasury, than ever before ; to sustain several agents in 
 the field, and to do what could be done toward the reduction 
 of the debt. 
 
 The receipts for the year, in loans, donations, and receipts 
 for the paper, have been $9,959 70; the expenditures $9914. 
 
 The service performed by the several agents, amounts in 
 all to 7 1-2 years. The debt of the society, it will be seen, 
 has not been diminished, but rather increased. The com- 
 mittee are not disheartened at this, nor should their friends 
 be. Other benevolent institutions have been, and still are, in 
 the same condition. At the same time, the committee feel 
 that the time has come when this debt should be swept off, 
 and the society set free from embarrassment. They knovir 
 there is ability among their friends to do it ; they trust there 
 will be a readiness to do it. h beginning has been made. 
 Already we have a subscription of $1900, on condition that 
 the sum of $4000 be raised within two months. 
 
 THE MASS. FEMALE EMANCIPATION SOCIETY 
 
 Deserves a notice in this place. This society was formed 
 April 10, 1840. It has steadily increased in numbers and 
 interest, and has enrolled between two and three hundred 
 members. 
 
It has raised during the past year about $1400, chiefly 
 through the instrumentality of fairs held in different towns in 
 the state. $800 of this sum was raised by the fair held in 
 Boston. The society are unanimous in the opinion that the 
 method of raising funds by the instrumentality of fairs is one 
 of great importance, and one in which more can be realized 
 to the treasury of the parent society, than any that has been 
 adopted by the Anti-Slavery women. 
 
 The society intend holding a large sale toward the close of 
 the present year, and the efforts of the members are now 
 turned to this department of anti-slavery labor. It is hoped 
 the friends of the cause throughout the State will remember 
 this sale, and the importance of giving of their abundance to 
 aid in furnishing the means of extending anti-slavery princi- 
 ples throughout the land. 
 
 The society is greatly indebted to the women of G. Britain 
 for their liberal donations to the fair held last season, and also 
 for renewed tokens of their remembrance at the coming sale. 
 
 An extensive correspondence has been opened with British 
 women which will no doubt result in great benefit to the 
 cause of human freedom. 
 
 A splendid liberty banner has been prepared, according to 
 a vote of the society, and present to the town, (Berkley) in the 
 tenth Congressional District, which cast the largest propor- 
 tionate number of votes for the liiberty Party candidate for 
 Congress. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE DIVISION IN THE A. S. SOCIETIES. 
 
 The Committee have long felt that a full and accurate his- 
 tory should be given to the public, of the origin and pro- 
 gress of the unhappy division among the friends of the 
 slave in this country, and of the causes that led to it. The 
 developments of the past year have increased their convic- 
 tion of its importance, and encouraged them to believe, that 
 the abolition mind in this country and abroad is prepared to 
 receive and credit all the facts in the case — those espe- 
 cially, which, as they implicate personal character, have 
 hitherto, from personal friendship and a regard to the cause, 
 been withheld from the public generally, but which, though 
 not the grounds of the secession, are yet important, as throw- 
 ing light upon and giving meaning to those that were the 
 grounds of it. The committee feel that such a history of the 
 case is due to themselves, to those who, having been provi- 
 dentially prominent in making the secession, have been the 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 apecial objects of assault and abuse by those from whom we 
 have separated, to the friends of the slave generally, and to 
 posterity. Such a history is the more important, also, from 
 the many partial and erroneous representations of the facts 
 which have been given to the public by our former associates 
 and friends. Such a history, the committee directed their 
 secretary, some months since, to prepare. Various causes 
 prevented his doing it then, and entering soon after on an- 
 other field of labor, he has been unable to do it since. As 
 the best substitute which the circumstances now allow, he 
 has grouped together a few of the facts of the kind re- 
 ferred to. To these the Committee invite your special at- 
 tention, and with the exposition of the case which these 
 furnish, the Committee hope to be able to close this unwel- 
 come, yet, as they believe, necessary controversy. 
 
 The Board of Managers of the Massachusetts A. S. So- 
 ciety, in their last Annual Report, say : — 
 
 *' The position assumed by that (the Abolition) Society is one of un- 
 mitigated hostility to ours. By its managers, its official, organ 
 and AGENTS, it has left untried no device to prejudice the public inind, 
 and especially the religious portion of the community, against the State 
 Anti-Slavery Society, and ourselves as its official representatives. All 
 this has been done with such a wanton disregard of truth, such a wide 
 departure from the ground of anti-slavery union and fellowship, such 
 palpable intent to gratify personal and sectarian feclingt, that it is in 
 the highest degree painful to contemplate such adevelopemeut of moral 
 character." 
 
 These are grave charges. They are made officially, by 
 the State society and its official representatives. They have 
 been repeatedly made before, by those whose influence con- 
 trols and gives tone to that society. They aver that the se- 
 cession had its origin in feelings o( personal and sectarian 
 hostility. Nothing can be more untrue. It is not known 
 that any of those, who have been prominent in the secession, 
 have ever had the least personal difference with the indivi- 
 dual, (Mr. Garrison,) out of hostility to whom it has been so 
 often alleged the secession arose. It is believed that to this 
 hour they are all on terms of perfect personal friendship and 
 good will to that indiviaual, and that when they meet him, 
 as they occasionally do, they meet as friends, with no per- 
 sonal animosities whatever toward each other. At all events, 
 this is true of the secretary of this society, whose alleged 
 personal hostility has been the subject of frequent and exten- 
 sive remark. Such personal hostility has never existed. 
 Equally unfounded is the charge of sectarianism, as the se- 
 
quel will show. The charge that the " managers, official 
 organ and agents," of this society have conducted the con- 
 troversy with " a wanton disregard of truth," is a polite way of 
 saying that we are all liars. This committee will not retort 
 the charge. Yet, when such a charge is gravely and offi- 
 cially preferred, when it has received the sanction, not only 
 of the general meeting, but of the cooler and deliberate re- 
 flections of such men as Edmund Quincy, Francis Jackson 
 and Ellis Gray Loring, and, with such sanction, has been put 
 on record to go down to posterity, it is surely time to make 
 known all the facts, whatever may be the results to personal 
 character in return. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE DIVISION. 
 
 At the formation of this society, its Executive Committee 
 were " instructed to prepare and issue at an early day an 
 address to the public, setting forth our objects and reasons 
 for separate action." In that address, the " causes of divi- 
 sion " were declared to be the introduction into our cause 
 of what is technically called the " Woman's Rights question," 
 the departure of the old society from the "original doctrines 
 and measures" of the anti-slavery associations on "the sub- 
 ject of political action," and a serious " defect in regard to 
 the composition of its business meetings." The defect in 
 question practically destroyed the representative character of 
 the society, and, as experience proved, enabled Lynn and 
 Boston to legislate for the State. It was by taking advan- 
 tage of this, that the action of the society, on the two 
 topics named, was controlled, and the society carried over 
 from the ground of simple and original Abolition, to that of 
 a Woman's Rights and Non-government one. Lynn and 
 Boston sent their scores of delegates, so called, to the meet- 
 ings of the society, while towns more remote, with an equal 
 proportionate amount of abolitionists, could send but tw(rt)r 
 three. Such was the fact at the meeting at which the revo- 
 lution in question was effected. Lynn had a delegation of 
 120 present. Boston had a greater number. Of those from 
 Boston, eighty were appointed by a meeting of seven mem- 
 bers of a new city society, that had been formed with special 
 reference to the then approaching meeting of the State so- 
 ciety. This was in fact the appointment of nearly the whole 
 membership of the society, as delegates. 
 
 And what is worse, not less than twenty or thirty of these 
 were induced to join the city society, merely that they might 
 
8 
 
 be appointed as delegates to vote at the state meeting. And 
 so prominent an individual qs the Treasurer of the State 
 society, was a prominent actor in this shameful proceeding! 
 Yet each of the so called delegates, from Boston and Lynn, 
 claimed and exercised an equal voice with those from remote 
 parts of the State, in deciding the action of the State society. 
 Nor was there any thing, in the constitution of the society, 
 to forbid it. To remedy this defect, to bring the cause 
 back to its original ground, that so it might be presented 
 to the public on its merits, unincumbered by the extraneous 
 and sectarian questions with which, in the action of the old 
 society, it had been identified, were the avowed reasons for 
 the formation of the new society — these, connected with the 
 hopelessness of effecting any reform in the old society, were 
 the avowed " causes of the division." They were its tru€ 
 and real causes. 
 
 THE REAL " PLOT." 
 
 In presenting them to the public as such, your committee 
 have hitherto rested their defence of the case upon these simple 
 facts. From a regard to former friendships and the general 
 cause, they have been anxious, as far as possible, to spare the 
 personal character of leading individuals from whom we have 
 separated. It was enough, that in the action of the old so- 
 ciety, the anti-slavery cause was, as a matter of fact, turned 
 aside from its original character, and identified with other 
 matters, and that the determination to turn it aside thus, from 
 whatever motives, was, as a fact, deliberate and settled. 
 These two facts the committee have ever regarded as ample 
 justification of the separation. On their presentation as 
 facts, have they hitherto rested their defence in the case. 
 They believe, however, that the time has now come, and that 
 the circumstances of the case are now such, as to require 
 them to go behind these facts, and give the public some of 
 the evidences, which have for some time satisfied them of the 
 existence of a deliberate and well-tnatured design, on the part 
 of those who have controlled the action of the former society, 
 to make the anti-slavery organizations subservient to the pro- 
 motion of their personal and sectarian views on the subjects of 
 Wojnen's Rights, so called. Civil Government, the Church, 
 the Ministry and the Sabbath. 
 
 THE DESIUN DISCREDITED AND DISCLAIMED. 
 
 It was a long time before those who have been active in 
 the separation could believe in the existence of any such 
 
design on the part of individuals with whom they had been 
 so intimately associated, and to whom they had been accus- 
 tomed to look, as counsellors and leaders in their efforts for 
 the enslaved. When such a design, indeed, was charged 
 on them, particularly upon Mr. Garrison, as it sometimes 
 was, it was indignantly disclaimed.* Such was the fact at 
 the time of Mr. Garrison's first assault upon the Sabbath, and 
 at the subsequent period of the Clerical Appeal. In the con- 
 clusion of the Sabbath discussion in 1836, Mr. Garrison 
 said : — 
 
 " Once for all, we beg our readers to be assured that we have not for 
 one moment cherished the purpose either of being diverted from the 
 special advocacy of the one great cause which we liave so long espoused, 
 or of making the Liberator the arena of a controversy uhich docs not 
 belong to its character or its object. Our Sabbatical animadversions 
 upon Dr. Beecher's speech were purely incidental, and quite subordi- 
 nate to the main design of our review, * * We take our leave of the 
 Sabbatical controversy, so far as the columns of the Liberator are concern- 
 ed, merely remarking again that we shall not suffer ourself or our paper to 
 be diverted from the steadfast and zealous advocacy of the anti-slavery 
 cause. * * As the Liberator is patronized by persons of almost every 
 religious persuasion, and chiefly because it is an anti-slavery paper, it is 
 obvious that it does not properly come within our province to attack the 
 peculiar tenets or ecclesiasticalarrangementsof any sect. We shall stu- 
 diously aim not to do so." 
 
 And subsequently, in Jan., 1837, when it was proposed to 
 have the State society assume the pecuniary support of the 
 paper, Mr. Garrison referred to the same discussion in a sim- 
 ilar manner, and added : — 
 
 *' The leading, all-absorbing object of the Liberator shall continue to 
 be, as it has been hitherto, the overthrow of American slavery — not to 
 conjiict with any religious sect or political party." 
 
 DEFENCE OF MR. GARRISON AND OTHERS. 
 
 In the full belief of the sincerity of these disclaimers, we 
 were ready to defend him and others of kindred views, as 
 members of the anti-slavery society. Our plea was, that the 
 anti-slavery society, as such, had nothing to do with, and 
 was not to be held responsible for the private opinions of its 
 members on any subjects other than that of the abolition of 
 
 * In Mr. Garrison's phrenological development, as given by Mr. Fow- 
 ler and published in the Liberator, is the following: — 
 
 *' He generally keeps his plans and feelings to himself, and carries his 
 plans into execution without divulging them. * * He has more fore- 
 thought than he manifests. He has great literary ingenuity, and is full 
 of new schemes and projects. He shows a great deal of tact as a writer 
 and reasoner. He seldom or never coramite himself." 
 
10 
 
 slavery. And, giving Mr. Garrison the full benefit of this 
 plea, the secretary of this society, then editor of the Emanci- 
 pator, (Aug. 18, 1836,) said :— 
 
 '* We trust that we love the Sabbath, and dissent from Mr Garrison's 
 views on the subject as much as any one — but what then ? Nay, what 
 if he were throughout a thorough Quaker? Must 1 therefore abjure his 
 eentiineiils on the suliject of abolition, or temperance, or any oiher sim- 
 ilar question, and refuse to co-operate with and sustain Iiinj in their pro- 
 mulgation ? Nonsense." 
 
 And in so saying, the editor did but express his own and 
 this committee's present as well as former views in the case. 
 With tile private religious or other opinions of its members, 
 the anti-slavery society, as such, and we as members of it, 
 have nothing to do. It is only when these opinions are 
 thrust upon the anti-slavery platform, as part and parcel of 
 abolition, and the attempt is made to model the action of the 
 anti-slavery societies in accordance with them, that we have 
 any right to complain, and the community a right to hold us 
 responsible for them. Nor was it until this was actually 
 done, and conclusive evidence was furnished that it would be 
 persisted in, that remonstrance and resistance, finally issuing 
 in separation, began. 
 
 VIEWS AND FEELINGS OF MR. GARRISON AT THIS PERIOD. 
 
 The Clerical Appeal controversy commenced in August, 
 1837. In the progress of that discussion it became manifest 
 that Mr. Garrison's heart was set upon other reforms more 
 generic in their character, and, in his view, more important, 
 than the anti-slavery reform. He used frequently to remark 
 that nothing thorough and effiectual could be effected for 
 temperance or abolition, until we had had some more radical 
 and generic reform. At this period he gave iip all hope of 
 the abolition of slavery by moral and peaceful means. In the 
 New England (convention, June 2, 1837, he said " he was 
 led to fear that all efforts to avert the pending calamity" of 
 the annexation of Texas to the Union " would prove abortive, 
 and that our national destruction was sealed." (Lib., vol. 7., 
 p. 110. 
 
 On the 4th of July of the same year, in a public address 
 at Providence, (Lib , vol. 7, p. 123,) he said he "stood forth 
 in the spirit of prophecy, to proclaim in the ears of the peo- 
 ple that our doom as a nation is sealed ; that the day of our 
 probation has ended, and we are not saved. * * Nor form of 
 government, nor representative body, nor written parchment, 
 nor social compact, nor physical preparation, can give us 
 
11 
 
 perpetuity, or hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. The 
 downfall of the republic seems inevitable. * * If fiistory be 
 not wholly fabulous — if revelation be not a forgery — if God 
 be not faitliless in the execution of his threateniiigs — the 
 doom is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. The 
 overthrow of the American confederacy is in the womb 
 of events. * * The corruptions of the church, so called, 
 are obviously more deep and incurable than those of the 
 state; and, therefore, the church, in spite of every precau- 
 tion and safeguard, is first to be dashed to pieces. ' Coming 
 events cast their shadows before.' * * The political dismem- 
 ber inent of our Union is ultimately to follow J' 
 
 On the 11th of August following, in reply to an invitation 
 to attend a Peace Convention in Vermont, Mr. Garrison 
 (Lib., vol. 7, p. 140) wrote the Rev. O. S. Murray as follows. 
 " In giving my attention to the degradation and misery of 
 two millions of American bondmen, I do not forget mankind. 
 My mind is busy in the investigation of many subjects, 
 which, in their full elucidation and practical bearings, are 
 destined to shake the nations. The subject of peace" (by 
 which he meant ** non-resistance," so called) " is among 
 them, and is peculiarly dear to me. * * I hope to be more 
 deeply engaged in it by and by than I am at present, and 
 unless they alter their present course, the first thing I shall 
 do will be to serve our peace societies as I have done the 
 colonization societies." 
 
 On the 2d of October Mr. Garrison was at Worcester, in 
 attendance upon the Massachusetts Young Men's A. S. Con- 
 vention. At noon, at tlie house of Mr. Earl, Messrs. Stan- 
 ton, Green and others being present, the conversation turned 
 upon the merits of Thompsonianism. Mr. Garrison avowed 
 himself a believer in the theory, and added, with much em- 
 phasis, "Jaw, medicine and divinity are the three great im- 
 postures of the day." On the 13th of the same month (Lib., 
 vol. 7., pp. 166, 167) he published a letter dated, '' Newark, 
 N. J., March 22d, 1837," and which had therefore been on 
 hand some six months before its publication was ventured 
 upon! In the letter, the writer said, — "The present gov- 
 ernments stand in the way of God's kingdom, just as Coloni- 
 zation once stood in the way of Abolition. They occupy the 
 ground without effecting the object. * * By the foregoing 
 considerations, I am authorized not only to hope for the 
 overthrow of the natiotjs, but to stand in readiness actively 
 to assist in the execution of God's purposes. And I am not 
 forbidden to do so by any past order " (referring to the Bible) 
 
12 
 
 " to be subject to earthly governments." * * " jfy /^^pg ^^ 
 the Millennium begins where Dr. Beechci-'s expires, viz., at 
 THE OVERTHROW OF THIS NATION." The Writer then de- 
 clares, "God, by his spirit, has moved me to nominate Jesus 
 Christ for the Presidency, not only of the United States, but 
 of the world." He also says, referring to a lormer interview 
 with Mr. Garrison, " You said your mind was heaving on 
 certain momentous subjects, and you only waited to put anti- 
 slavery in the sunshine before you turned your mind toward 
 those subjects." Mr. Garrison, in an accompanying editorial, 
 called this, "The solemn and powerful letter from Newark," 
 and said, it "is in accordance with our views and feelings." 
 These extracts make obvious what was well known to the 
 intimate and careful observers of Mr. Garrison, at this pe- 
 riod, but what was not generally noticed or duly weighed by 
 abolitionists as a body. It was at this period, that James 
 Boyle of Ohio, in his famous letter, endorsed by Mr. Garri- 
 son, said, " I have observed of late, that you have become 
 satisfied that moral influence will never abolish slavery in 
 this country." Mr. Garrison had given up all hope for the 
 slave from such means ;* his mind was laboring and his heart 
 
 * And yet, when in October, 1839, it became necessary to issue a 
 •'Liberator extra," for the purpose of warning "the anti-slavery elec- 
 tors of Massachusetts," against lending any countenance to the " Inde- 
 pent Anti-slavery nomination," then this same iVIr. Garrison was fore- 
 most and loudest in the outcry for " moral action," in distinction from 
 political, as the sure and only hope for the slave. In the " address " of 
 the board of managers of the old society, issued at that time, and to which 
 his name is attached, i\Ir. Garrison, in common with the others, says : 
 
 "It (the formation of an abolition political party,) would be virtually 
 denying the power of jnora/ suason &nA eternal truth \.o overcome cor- 
 ruption and prcjndi;e. * * It is to be feared that some who bear the 
 name of abolitionists, are beginning to lose their faith in truth, and the 
 God of truth, /o (fcs/)rtir of obtaining victory by the «se of spiritual 
 weapons, ( I) and hence their anxiety to go down into Egypt for horsemen 
 and chariots. * * It will lake but a very short time, comparatively, 
 for the ' little leaven ' of anti-slavery to leaven the whole lump of poli- 
 tics, provided abolitionists hold fast their integrity, and have fuilh as a 
 grain of mustard seed. Both political parties will yet be compelled lo 
 do homage to the moral majesty of our enterprise, and be emulous 
 lo do it service, because of the great moral change that WILL BE 
 wrought in public sentiment. Friends of the sighing bondman! let ub 
 never give them occasion to think, for a moment, that we have no abid- 
 ing faith in the promulgation of truth, — anti-slavery truth, — to overcome 
 their opposition. Let us ever speak in the language of victory, and re- 
 gard their absolute subjection as a SETTLED EVENT." 
 
 And this was the man, who, two years before, had proclaimed it 
 to the world, that moral influence would never abolish slavery in this 
 coantry? 
 
13 
 
 inXenl on those other great reforms, with the idea of which 
 he had become intoxicated, and compared with which, he 
 more than once remarked, that the anti-slavery reform was 
 but as a drop to the ocean. 
 
 PRIVATE REMONSTRANCE. 
 
 In this state of things, Mr, Garrison was pressed, by pri- 
 vate and fraternal remonstrances, either to waive the pressure 
 of his views in connection with the anti-slavery cause, or to 
 come out at once boldly, and fling the banner of universal re- 
 form to the breeze. The evidence of such remonstrance is 
 is on record. On the 19th of January, 1838, (Lib. vol. 8, p. 
 9,) Mr. Phelps in reply to a communication of Prof Smyth 
 of Maine, after making sundry admissions, said : — 
 
 " And does Prof. Smyth exclaim now, that against these things, Bro. 
 Phelps has never felt it his duty to remonstrate? A little pains to gel 
 light would have told him a different story. It vvoQld have told him, not 
 indeed that 1 had carried my griefs to the har of the public in the form of 
 •Appeals,' and 'Protests,' and 'Voices,' in the belief that 'private 
 remonstrances would be entirely unheeded,' but that I had sought my 
 end in a more fraternal way. It would have put him in possession of 
 the following, among other facts, * * that when the connexion of the 
 Liberator and the society first came up for consideration, Bro. P. ex- 
 pressed his firm conviction, that it was, in itself, an improper one, and 
 ought to cease with the end of the year; that on the other topics there 
 has been private and personal remonstrance, and that at times, on some 
 of these points, ' Bro. P.'s ' feelings have been very strong, and his re- 
 monstrances very earnest." 
 
 The editor of the Liberator accompanied the article con- 
 taining these statements with editorial remarks commending 
 it to the attention of his readers ; but did not intimate that 
 such remonstrances had not been made. Lideed so great 
 was the dissatisfaction of Mr. Phelps with his course, toward 
 the close of the Clerical Appeal controversy, that, on one oc- 
 casion, after conversing on the subject at some length, he 
 assured Mr. Garrison, in distinct terms, that he could not 
 and would not sanction the course he was then pursuing, and 
 that if he persisted in it, he must and should con)e out against 
 him. At the same time, Oct. 1837, he also wrote to some of 
 Mr. Garrison's most intimate personal friends, stating what 
 his feelings were, and urging them to use their influence to 
 induce him to modify his course. Among others, he wrote 
 to Dr. Farnsworth of Groton, then and now a firm adherent 
 of Mr. Garrison. In his reply, dated "Groton, October 27, 
 1837," Dr. Farnsworth said : 
 
 •' Garrison will have a large party, and it cannot be otherwise, but 
 2 
 
14 
 
 there will be strife between the two divisions. Besides, wonld not hi& 
 power for doing mischief by the circulation of his sentiments on other 
 matters, be greater than it will be if we Iteep with him, and surround 
 him with our influence, which must restniin him to a very^ great degree, 
 1**1 know your regard for the anti-slavery cause, and have full 
 confidence in your judgtnent and discretion to navigate safely in this 
 dangerous sea. And allow me to believe, that the obstinacy of Garrison 
 will not stimulate you to any sudden act which the circumstances of the 
 limes do not imperiously demand." 
 
 John G. Whittier, in a letter to Mr. Phelps, dated " Ames- 
 bury, 22d 10th mo., (Oct.) 1837," said : 
 
 " As to the Liberator, I have just forwarded to Garrison a letter in 
 reference to the Newark Perfectionist's letter. 1 sent a resolution and 
 a letter to the Essex County A. S. Society, (being unable to attend,) 
 disapproving of the course of the Liberator in this matter, but it was vo- 
 ted down. I am anxious to do all that I can to preserve peace." 
 
 Other individuals, ignorant at the time, of Mr. Phelps' 
 feelings, wrote him of their own accord, giving an e.xpression 
 of their feelings, and urging him to use his influence with Mr. 
 Garrison, and announcing the fiict that they also had sent their 
 private remonstrances to Mr. Garrison. Among others, 
 "Father Ward," so called, wrote Mr. Phelps a long letter on 
 the subject, and as he was in doubt whether Mr. Ward in- 
 tended that he should show the letter to Mr. Garrison, he 
 wrote Mr. Ward for information. In reply, Mr. Ward, "Oct. 
 26," said : 
 
 " As you express a doubt as to my object in writing you, 1 would ob- 
 serve, it was not that you should ' show the letter to Mr. G.' ^s I had 
 previously written to him, he knew my views as to his course." 
 
 On the same week, N. Crosl'y, Esq., now General Agent 
 of the Mass. Temp. Union, and then resident in Newburyport, 
 wrote as follows : 
 
 " I sent, by yesterday's mail, a long letter to Mr. Garrison, which I 
 wish you to read, and you will see what considerations 1 have urged up- 
 on him. I hiive suffered amazingly from the appeal, answers, attack on 
 Sabbath, clergy, &c., &c., and that so much of the Liberator has been 
 taken up in resolutions, letters, &c., &c., to the almost entire neglect of 
 the poor slave." 
 
 Elizur Wright, Jr., writing on another topic to Mr. 
 Phelps, on the 26th of the same month, and referring to the 
 correspondence below, said : 
 
 " I have just received a letter from Garrison, which confirms my fears 
 that he has finished his course for the slave. At any rate his plan of 
 rescuing the slave by the destruction of human laws, is fatally conflict- 
 ive with ours. Only one of them can lead to any good result. Still, if 
 he would run up his perfect on flap:, so that abolitionists might see what 
 they are driving at, shouting for him, he would not do us much hurt. I 
 have conjured him to do so. Honesty requires it of him.''' 
 
15 
 
 The remainder of the story in regard to this correspon- 
 dence with Mr. G., is thus told by Mr. Wright, in a " Chap- 
 ter on Plots," in the Abolitionist, Dec. 5, 1839 ; nor has Mr. 
 -Garrison ever dared to deny one of the facts here stated. 
 
 Now ihat our hand is in for this chapter, we will plead guilty to cer- 
 tain anterior plots. We will go back to the beginning — \hefo7is malo- 
 rum, of all our plots. In the summer of 1837 we were vehemently 
 urged by Mr. Garrison and Mrs. Chapman, to come out in condemnation 
 of a certain not very powerful document, since known as the " Clerical 
 Appeal." We replied, for substance, that we considered that docu- 
 ment a personal affair, with which the Emancipator was not called upon 
 to meddle, especially after the Liberator had so fully disposed of it; 
 but that if we did take notice of it, we should feel bound impartially to 
 make a clean breast, and rebuke the Liberator and Mr. Garrison for 
 faults not charged in that " Appeal." What these faults were, we at 
 once plotted to make known to Mr. Garrison, by a correspondence which 
 was kept religiously private on our part. On the first part of this corre- 
 spondence, we cannot, at this moment, lay our hands, but the following 
 extract of a letter from Mr. Garrison, dated Oct. 23d, 1837, will showr 
 of what sort it was. 
 
 "My Dear Hrother, — I am indebted to you for two long letters, to 
 which, perhaps, I shall reply at equal length, at some leisure hour. The 
 first — though written, I am sure, with the most friendly feelings — excited 
 my surprise far more than the Clerical Appeal; and, you will pardon 
 me for saying, was as illogical in its reasoning as it was cruel in its im- 
 peachment of my motives. Elizur Wright, Jr., never wrote that letter 
 — some other spirit than your own freeborn, generous, independent 
 spirit, prevailed with you for the time being, and made you indite that 
 strange composition," &c. 
 
 Though we were not sensible of making any cruel impeachment of 
 motives in that letter, its language certainly was stronger than we would 
 use about any friend, behind his back. We did not then consider it in- 
 evitable that Mr. Garrison's faults should be discussed by us before the 
 public, but continued to hope that by "plotting" with him, like a 
 brother, he might be prevented from saddling his own vagaries upon the 
 anti-slavery cause. What was the precise position we took with him, 
 will appear from a subsequent letter of our own, dated Nov. 4th, 1837, 
 in which we read, — 
 
 " Perhaps your ' surprise ' at my first letter would be less, if you were 
 to reflect that, not believing in the doctrine of 'perfect holiness,' I arn 
 not unprepared to see faults in my very best friends, and can reprove 
 them without hating or despising them. Whether such reproof betoken 
 on my part a lack of freedom, generosity, and independence of spirit, I 
 leave to the verdict of your own good sense. Sure I am that there is 
 little enough good in me, but my letter to you was dictated by my 
 conscience, if any letter of mine ever was. My sentiments in regard to 
 your freedom of speech, you know from a letter more recent than those 
 to which you replied. VVhen the Anti-Slavery Society fairly stands 
 before the world clear of all responsibility for the Liberator, 1 shall not 
 charge it upon you as a sin against the abolition cause that you advocate 
 In its columns your own religious views. You say, 'truth is o«e, and 
 aot conflictive or multiludinous.' True, but the people are confiictive. 
 A-bolitionists do not agree on many points not involved in their Declara- 
 
16 
 
 tion of Sentiments. Hence it is no more than right that the paper whic6 
 is understood to speak the common language of all, should confine itself 
 to the subject on which all agree, or rather on which they do not seriously 
 differ. If any brother has discovered what he deems to be iniportani 
 truth, heaven forbid that abolitionists should hinder him from the full 
 developement of it, o?i his own responsibiliUj. 
 
 " But it does appear to me that youi' ' truth ' — that human g^overn- 
 ment has no rightful authority, does conflict with the iruihs of our 
 Declaration of Sentiments, and especially with our measures. In our 
 Declaration we maintain "that the slave ought instantly to be set free 
 and brought under the protection of law;" and that " Congress has the 
 right, and is solemnly bound to suppress the domestic slave trade." 
 Now here is downright unlrulh, if human government has no right to 
 exist. And as to our measures, the discrepancy is still more glaring. 
 We labor to bring the slave under the protection of government, you to 
 destroy the government that is to protect him. I suppose you will say 
 that you would only supersede human authority by the establishment 
 of the divine. Still our action n)ilitates against yours, for ours tends 
 more thoroughly to establish the human government — the latter being 
 never so firm as when the weakest are enjoying its full protection. Still, 
 conflictive as are your truths with ours, theoretically, 1 have little appre- 
 hension that we should receive any injury from them practically, if they 
 made their home in their own tub — and that stood on its own bottom. 
 What I should then most fear, would be that they would suck you into 
 a vortex of spiritual Quixotism, and thus absorb energies that might have 
 shaken down the mountain of oppression." 
 
 Had we written such letters to any mortal on earth about Mr. Garrison, 
 would not excerpts — all the blood and "murder" of them — have cer- 
 tainly come " out " in Mrs. Chapman's last book ? But, some how or 
 other, they have totally sunk out of her grand complotation, and lier 
 pages make up a face of the most wide-orbed surprise at the positions 
 which H. B. Stanton and ourself have taken in 1839 — as at laymen car- 
 ried away by a sudden clerical plot and side wind. Just as if Mr. Gar- 
 rison and Mrs. Chapman did not perfectly know, more than two years 
 ago, that other names besides the honored one of H. B. Stanton, names 
 far more prominently and worthily identified with the abolition cause 
 than our own, had plotted this same new organization plot to iheir pri- 
 vate ears — that is, had pressed upon them the doctrine which has at 
 length made it proper and necessary for the new organization to exist! 
 But they understand the power of plot. 
 
 Rev. C. W. Denison, then in Maryland, and one of Mr. 
 G.'s earliest friends, remonstrated in a similar way about the 
 same time. Other individuals did the same. But amid all 
 the clamor in the Liberator, in Mrs. Chapman's books, and 
 elsewhere, about " plots," and " treasons," and " detected 
 letters," not a hint of these private remonstrances has ever 
 yet been given, nor one solitary line of these private letters 
 been printed ! This single fact speaks volumes, 
 
 THE DESIGN MATURED AND DELIBEKATELY ADOPTED. 
 
 These remonstrances all coming upon Mr. Garrison about 
 the same time and from different quarters, effected a tempo;- 
 
n 
 
 rary modification of his course. Nevertheless, his mind was 
 *' busy " and " heaving " with the supposed great reforms that 
 in his imagination had already " shaken the nations." The 
 circumstances of the case were peculiar. He was panting 
 for the conflict with principalities and powers. His friends 
 were remonstrating. They thought his schemes ruin, not 
 reform. At all events, they were quite sure that their advoca- 
 cy in connection with the cause of the slave would be ruin to 
 that; and they urged him, for the slave's sake, to desist, or 
 else to quit the slave and fling out his banner without fear 
 and without disguise. What should he done? It was a 
 serious question, but must be met. There were but three 
 courses that could be taken. One was, to waive their advo- 
 cacy for the slave's sake. That would have been generous, 
 and would have evidenced a sincerity and fervor of devotion 
 to his cause alike honorable and above suspicion. This was 
 not done. A second course was to lift the banner of universal 
 reform on independent grounds, and separate entirely from 
 the cause of the slave. That would have been manly and 
 honest. That was not done. The only other course was to 
 push on the schemes of universal reform under the banner 
 and in connection with that of freedom to the slave. This 
 was done. If done in the sincere and heartfelt belief that 
 thereby the cause of the slave would be most effectually pro- 
 moted, it was the mistaken policy of sincere yet misguided 
 zeal. If done with the deliberate design of taking advantage 
 of tlie anti-slavery cause to give currency to views that it was 
 well known could not gain a hearing or stand a moment on 
 their own merits, it was a treachery to the slave, as base as 
 it was cowardly and mean. If done with such design, the 
 natural and obvious course would have been first to consider 
 and decide on this as the policy to be pursued ; second, in 
 pursuing it, to seek to shape the anti-slavery cause to the 
 principles of the other reforms; third, in doing this, to urge 
 those modifications first which would be least obnoxious, 
 and least likely to create alarm ; and finally, to bring other 
 organizations and instrumentalities into the field to do that 
 portion of the work which could not be eftected through 
 the anti-slavery organizations and instrumentalities. And 
 this, the committee are obliged to say, is just lohat was 
 actually done. The policy to be pursued was considered and 
 deliberately decided upon : it was that of" sifting them in " 
 upon the anti-slavery reform ; and it was chosen because, 
 avowedly, the other reforms, standing alone and on their own 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 merits, could not get a hearing or make any general lodgement 
 in the public mind. 
 
 It is well known that at the period referred to, when Mr. 
 Garrison's mind was " heaving" with these other great re- 
 forms, so called, he had frequent consultations with some of 
 his most intimate friends in respect to the course to be pur- 
 sued. George W. Benson, his brolher-in-law, Maria W. 
 Chapman, the Misses Grimke, and others, were so consulted. 
 One plan proposed was to give up the Liberator, or retire 
 from its editorial care and start a new paper. Another plan 
 was to make a formal change of the Liberator itself, and 
 announce the fact that its leading object would no longer 
 be the abolition of slavery, but generic and universal reform, 
 including the abolition of slavery as a part of it. Another 
 plan was to continue to hold out the abolition of slavery as 
 the leading object of the paper, and then to "sift in" the 
 other reforms, as the people could bear them. The latter, 
 as appears from the following correspondence, was adopted. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Cummings, an agent of this society, had 
 been told the facts stated in this correspondence, by some 
 friends in, this city. In the prosecution of his labors as an 
 agent, he came in contact with a Mr. Whiting, an agent of 
 the old society, and in the course of the conversation or dis- 
 cussion, repealed the facts to him. He at once denied their 
 truth, said he knew they could not be so, and that he would 
 write Mr. Garrison about it. Weeks passed on, and nothing 
 was heard, either from Mr, Whiting or Mr. Garrison. That 
 there might be no apology for longer silence, if the facts 
 were not as slated, Mr. Cummings addressed a letter of in- 
 quiry to Mr. Fuller, through the columns of the Abolitionist, 
 to which Mr. Fuller gave the following reply : — 
 
 THE INQUIRY ANSWERED. 
 
 Mr. H. Cummings : — Dear Sir, — I find in the last Abolitionist, a 
 letter from you, addressed to me, ofvvkich the following is an extract: — 
 
 " I have been very credibly informed, that some two or more years 
 since, Mr. Garrison called a meeting of his special friends, in the Marl- 
 boro* Hotel, Boston, among whom was yourself, and after reading Mr. 
 J. Boyle's letter on non-resistance and perfectionism, distinctly proposed 
 to inculcate and spread those doctrines. The medium through which 
 he proposed to propagate them, was the Liberator and the anti-slavery 
 organization. The manner was to sift them in incidentally, and press 
 them upon the people as fast as they were prepared to receive them. 
 The reasons assigned for such a course were, a new paper and separate 
 organization could not be sustained, for the people were not prepared to 
 receive such doctrines w hen presented in their fullest light, as they would 
 be in a new paper, but if •' si/ted " into the anti-slavery organization. 
 
19 
 
 they would drink them in imperceptibly, and thus would not be so of- 
 fensive to them. The substance of the above facts I have frequently 
 stated in public and to private individuals; and the general inquiry has 
 been, ' why have not these facts been published ?' " 
 
 Satisfied that the present state of the anti-slavery cause demands a 
 publication of the facts in the case, I do not feel at liberty to shrink from 
 the responsibility of giving them to the public in answer to your inquiries. 
 They are briefly these. Some two years since, Mr. Garrison received a 
 letter from Mr. James Boyle of Ohio, which was subsequently published 
 in the Liberator under the caption of " A Letter to Wm. Lloyd Garri- 
 son, touching the Clerical Appeal, Sectarianism, and True Holiness." 
 The character of the letter may be judged of by the following extracts. 
 
 " For your (Mr. Garrison's independent expression of your senti- 
 ments respecting human governments, — a pagan originated Sabbath, 
 (sun's day,) your wise refusal to receive the mark of the beast, either ia 
 your forehead or in your right hand, by practically sanctioning the irre- 
 ligious sects which corrupt and curse the world, — your merited denunci- 
 ations of these sects, of the sordid, dough-faced, popish leaders, but 
 above all, for your Christ-exalting poetry, • Christian Rest,' you are in 
 my heart," &c. 
 
 "It would seem, from the sympathy manifested by 'Clerical ' men, 
 in this country toward the religion and priesthood that were abolished 
 in France, that they would rather have a religion and priesthood from 
 hell, than none at all. 
 
 " I have observed of late, that you (Mr. Garrison) have become satis- 
 fied that moral influence will never abolish slavery in this country.* Of 
 this I have long been certain. ' The signs of the times ' indicate clearly 
 to my mind, that God has given up the sects and parties, political and 
 religious, of this nation, into the hands of a perverse and lying spirit, 
 and left them to fill up the measure of their sins," &c., &c. 
 
 In publishing the letter, Mr. Garrison said, — 
 
 ♦' It is one of the most powerful epistles ever written by man. We 
 alone are responsible for its publication. It utters momentous truths in 
 solemn and thrilling language, and is a testimony for God and his righte- 
 ousness, which cannot be overthrown." 
 
 Mr. Garrison had the letter on hand some considerable time previous 
 to its publication, and read it repeatedly to individual and particular 
 friends. On one occasion, before its appearance in the Liberator, my- 
 self and several others were invited to meet at a room in the Marlboro' 
 Hotel to hear it read. Mr. G. having read it, spoke of it in terms of the 
 highest commendation — saying, in substance, that however unpopular 
 its doctrines, they were true, and would yet be received by the people. 
 That ihey were not now prepared for them — that if a new publication 
 were started for the purpose of promulgating them, (a measure which 
 he had under consideration some months before, and in respect to which 
 he consulted some of his most confidential friends,) it would not get 
 sufficient circulation to sustain it — that the abolitionists indeed, were the 
 only class of the community that had been so trained to free discussion 
 as to bear their discussion; "and therefore," said he, "as our enemies 
 say," (referring to the charge of Mr. Woodbury some time previous,) 
 we must " sift it in " to the Liberator. 
 
 This is the substance of what he said. The impression I received from 
 it at the time was, that it was then his deliberate design to take advantage 
 
 * This was Mr. Garrison's opinion at that time. 
 
20 
 
 of the abolition character of his paper to "sift" his peculiar opinions on 
 other subjects, into public favor. As I iiad never before believed that 
 Mr. Garrison had any such design, and had repelled the charge as a 
 slander upon him, I was, of course, surprised at this avowal of it by 
 himself. 
 
 That he made what amounted to such an avowal I am sure from these 
 facts. First, 1 mentioned it to Mrs. Fuller the same evening. Second, 
 lip to that time n)y confidence in Mr. Garrison's integrity was entire and 
 implicit, and from that time it began to be shaken. And third, the col- 
 umns of the Liberator have since been in exact keeping with such a 
 design. 
 
 I make these statements in answer to your inquiries, in no ill will to 
 Mr. Garrison, but solely because 1 believe that the cause of truth and 
 freedom demand it. 
 
 Yours for the bondman, John E. Fuller. 
 
 Boston, JVov. 25, 1839. 
 
 These statements have been before the public, have been 
 copied into various papers, and been repeated in private 
 conversation and public discussion for nearly a year and 
 a half, and to this hour Mr. Garrison has never said one word 
 in explanation or denial of them. 
 
 THE DESIGN CARRIED OUT. 
 
 The design thus deliberately conceived has been steadily 
 and perseveringly carried out by the two leading minds in 
 the case, (Mr. Garrison and Mrs. Chapman,) through their 
 subordinate agents and friends. As subordinates, Messrs. 
 Johnson, Collins and Whiting, as agents ; Messrs. George 
 W. Benson and William Chase, as family connections of Mr. 
 Garrison; Mr. Phillips, whose wife is a relative, and when 
 here an inmate of the senior Chapman family, and Mr. 
 Quincy, whose recent confession is, that for years he has 
 played the hypocrite in regard to his religious opinions — 
 these, as subordinates, have been specially prominent and 
 active.* 
 
 To trace the design in question in all the instances and 
 steps of its development, would swell this report to a volume. 
 The committee can notice but a few of them, as specimens 
 of many others. 
 
 * Mr. Q.uincy's confession (see Lib., March, 1841) is as follows : — 
 " As for myself, I had attained the views 1 now hold on the church, 
 ministry, and Sabbath, before I knew of your (Mr. Garrison's) exis- 
 tence, I believe; certainly several years before 1 had any acquaintance 
 with you, or knew any thing of your opinions on any subject except 
 slavery. My error and sin (which I confess and repent) consisted in 
 giving my countenance to them for a time, from a mistaken idea that the 
 views I held were dangerous to be known by the common people, who 
 needed a little jugglery (!) and legerdemain (!) to keep them in order." 
 
21 
 
 THE WOMAN QUESTION. 
 
 The first illustration of the kind is furnished in the manner 
 and history of the introduction of the " woman's rights ques- 
 tion," so called. As was to have been expected, on the sup- 
 position of the design named, this being the least obnoxious 
 of the proposed modifications of the cause, the least likely 
 from the circumstances of the case to create alarm and pro- 
 voke resistance, or if it did so, the most easily to be eflTected, 
 was the first to be attempted. The New England Con- 
 vention of 1838 was chosen as the occasion, and Oliver 
 Johnson, the well known echo of Mr. Garrison's wishes on 
 such occasions, as the agent for introducing the attempt. — 
 For several years the form of invitation to membership and 
 action in the convention had been *' all gentlemen present." 
 On this occasion, at an early period of the convention, when 
 Messrs. Phelps, Smith, and some others, who from various 
 causes had been more awake to the progress of things than 
 their brethren generally, and would have been more likely to 
 have detected and resisted the movement on the threshold, 
 were out of the room, preparing business for the convention, 
 Mr. Johnson brought forward a carefully worded resolution, 
 inviting, not " gentlemen " merely, as formerly, but " all 
 persons present, or who may be present at subsequent meet- 
 ings, whether men or women, who agree with us in sentiment 
 on the subject of slavery, to become members and participate 
 in the proceedings of the convention." In the bustle of the 
 moment, and not dreaming that this " was to be the first 
 public act of a mighty reform," the difference in the form of 
 the invitation was not generally noticed, and the resolution 
 was readily adopted. Its adoption was received by the initi- 
 ated with a burst of applause, as if conscious of having 
 achieved some anticipated and mighty victory. The pro- 
 ceedings of the convention on a subsequent day, opened the 
 eyes of all to the meaning of the vote and the design of its 
 introduction. At once a private meeting of the leading 
 members of the convention, on both sides of the quescion, 
 was called to see in what way the matter should be at^justed. 
 The woman's rights men were resolved on retaining tJie ground 
 they had gained, and would not listen a moment to the idea of 
 reconsideration or compromise. Others who regretted the 
 resolution and said they would not have voted for it had they 
 been aware of its import and extent, thought that as the 
 money of the ladies as members had been received and as 
 the convention had proceeded so far on that basis, the reso» 
 
22 
 
 lution could not be reconsidered without undoing all the pro- 
 ceedings of the convention through the two preceding days, 
 and therefore that the better way, on the whole, was to let 
 the matter pass, and look out for the remedy the next year. 
 Mr. Garrison at first refused to come nigh the meeting. He 
 did at last come in a few moments when the conference was 
 nearly closed, and all but four or five of the persons present 
 had retired ; and after sitting a short time, remarked, with a 
 smile of seeming exultation, that he did not see that any- 
 thing could be done. Thus this fraternal effort at an adjust- 
 ment of the matter at the threshold was sternly and reso- 
 lutely repulsed, just as we should expect it to have been on 
 the supposition that the initiated had made up their minds 
 beforehand to push the measure at all hazards. From this 
 point, the measure has been carried by the same persons and 
 with the same pertinacity, first to the Massachusetts State 
 Anti-Slavery Society, then to sister State and local societies, 
 then to the National Society, and finally to the World's Con- 
 vention, and there contested in such a manner as to show 
 that William Lloyd Garrison and his associates crossed the 
 great Atlantic, not to further the cause of the slave, but to 
 take advantage of the slave's convention to test and give cur- 
 rency to his and their Quixotic schemes of " women's 
 rights." And all this, when the evidence is indisputable 
 on their own confessions, that that public action of women 
 in our state and national societies for which they have so 
 strenuoupjy contended, was never contemplated in the orig- 
 inal formation of those societies. The evidence of such con- 
 fessions is at hand. 
 
 On the Uth of March, of 1836, the Philadelphia Female 
 Anti-Slavery Society wrote, by their Secretary, to the Boston 
 Female Anti-Slavery Society, stating that that Society was 
 auxiliary to the American, and that, at a recent meeting of 
 Ks Board of Managers, it had been proposed to inquire of 
 the Executive Committee of the National Society, whether 
 or nw they would be expected to send a delegation to its 
 annual -qneeting, &c. &lc. The proposition occasioned some 
 debate, at.d as they supposed the Boston society was auxiliary 
 to the State or national, they wished to be informed what 
 their " opiniofi and practice were respecting the sending of 
 delegates to its annual meeting" — a strange inquiry truly, 
 if the sending of such delegations, and the public action con- 
 sequent upon it, has always been contemplated, and is in 
 keeping with the constitution of that society, as originally 
 
23 
 
 adopted in that same city, and in presence, too, of the very 
 women that now urged it! The Boston society was not 
 auxiliary to either of the societies named, and of course had 
 no "practice" on the subject. A meeting was accordingly 
 held to consider and give an "opinion" in the case, A ma- 
 jority of the meeting were opposed to the measure. Mr. 
 Garrison was then boarding at Miss Lucy Parker's, and 
 manifested great anxiety in respect to the result. The fol- 
 lowing certificates will show what he said when informed of 
 it, and what he then thought of the measure proposed. 
 
 " I hereby certify that on our return from the meeting of the Boston 
 Female A. S. Society, at which the opinion of the society was taken in 
 regard to the question submitted to it by the Philadelphia society, Mr. 
 Garrison inquired what we had done, and when informed that a majority 
 were against the measure proposed, he said, ' / am glad of il, for it was 
 never contemplated.' Mary S. Parker." 
 
 This is the Miss Parker that was, for several years, the 
 President of the Boston society. Her sister says: — 
 
 "The impression of the undersigned is that Mr. Garrison said, ' I am 
 glad of it, for it would only make trouble.' Lucy Parker. 
 
 •' Boston, Jan. 14, 1840." 
 
 Both these testimonies were given Mr. Phelps in writing 
 at the date of the latter. They are both identical in fact, 
 though not in terms; for why would the measure " make 
 trouble,'" but on the ground that it "was never contem- 
 plated?" 
 
 On the 8th of March last, Mr. St. Clair writes Mr. Phelps, 
 in respect to Mr. Johnson's confessions, as follows; — 
 
 " A short time after the N. E. A. S. Convention of 1838, at which 
 Mr. Johnson presented the woman question, he observed to me that yoa 
 had said, in a conversation with him " — (this was so) — " if the Massa- 
 chusetts A. S. Society should take the same course the N. E. Convention 
 had upon the subject, jou and many others should leave it. 1 replied, 
 then it must not be brought forward. He said, it certainly would be. 
 Then, I inquired, why not make the motion in the language of the con- 
 stitution, inviting all 'persons ' to act, and leaving it to each to give his 
 own construction. Because, he replied, when the constitution was 
 adopted, it was not contemplated that women should act in the public 
 meetings of the society; and unless specially invited they would not. I 
 inquired if lie would push that subjpcl if he knew it would divide the 
 society. He replied. Yes; it would drive off only such men as Phelps 
 — the orthodox and the clergy would leave, and they could be very well 
 spared." 
 
 These facts need no comment. 
 
24 
 
 THE QUESTION OF POLITICAL ACTION. 
 
 A second instance of the development of the same design;, 
 is furnished in the attempt to modify tlie action of the anti- 
 slavery society, in accordance with the views of tlie re- 
 formers on the subject of civil government. The intention 
 obviously was to prepare the way for this modification by the 
 same silent and "sifling-in" process, that had done the 
 work in the case just named. Hence the discussion was in- 
 troduced, little by little, in the Liberator, great care being 
 taken at the same time to reiterate the assurance that anti- 
 slavery is still its leading and distinctive object, (Lib., vol. 8, 
 p. 155,) and that " the discussion of the peace question in 
 its columns, will continue to be, as it has been hitlierto, 
 merely incidental!" The impression was also studiously 
 made that abolitionists were rapidly going over to the new 
 doctrine, especially the most ultra and thorough of thfin. 
 
 The providence of God, however, hastened the develop- 
 ment on this subject sooner than had been anticipated, and 
 before the leaders in the matter were fully prepared for it. 
 Various causes combined, in the summer and fall of 1838, 
 to call the attention of the abolitionists of this State and of 
 the country, to the consideration and discharge of their duty, 
 as citizens, in the use of the elective franchise. The doc- 
 trine of the anti-slavery societies always had been thnt the 
 use of that franchise for the slave was a solemn duly — a 
 matter demanded not on the ground of consistency merely, 
 but of sacred obligation.* 
 
 * The doctrine of the Declaration of Sentiments, drafted by I\lr, Gar- 
 rison, and put forth by the convention that formed the Aniericitii Anti- 
 Slavery Society, in Dec. 1833, was as follows: — 
 
 " IVe also maintain that there are, at the present time, the highest 
 OBLIGATIONS Vesting on the people of the f>ee States, to /emove 
 slavery by moral and political action, as prescribed in the L'onsti- 
 tulion of the United Stales.'^ 
 
 " Political action " is here affirmed to be a matter of " hi^het.! obli- 
 gation.'" It and " moral " action are put on the same fooling — that of 
 duty, not of consistency merely wiih one's professions. Thai iliis sen- 
 timent had main and ultimate reference to the use of the elective fran- 
 chise, is proved beyond a doubt. Some two years since, John G. 
 Whittikr, then editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman, said, — 
 
 " We were a member of th:it Philadelphia convention — one of the 
 three constituting the sub-committee, which drew up the DeclarMiion of 
 Sentiments No one at that period objected to political actiiui in its 
 fullest extent. Our friend Garrison lold us how the aboiiiionists in 
 Great Britain were carrying their principles to the ballot box, as an ear- 
 nest of what we shall be able to do ere long in our own country. ' 
 
 Mr. Garrison has never denied this statemc;nt. Indeed, in tlie .:'itumn 
 
S5 
 
 So soon, therefore, as the course of events called on abo- 
 litionists to give expression to their opinions in resolutions 
 of conventions and societies, this was the doctrine which 
 they every where avowed. Among other events, in conse- 
 quence of successive defeats, the several contested elections 
 in the fourth Congressional District in this State, came on. 
 
 On the 11th of December, 1838, preparatory to the elec- 
 tion on the following Monday, the abolitionists of the Dis- 
 trict held a meeting at Concord. Messrs. H. B. Stanton, 
 A. A. Phelps, A. St. Clair, Francis Jackson, Wendell Phil- 
 lips and William Lloyd Garrison, were there. Among the 
 resolutions adopted on that occasion, and in support of 
 which Wendell Phillips made a most eloquent speech, were 
 the following : — 
 
 Resolved, That we will not content ourselves with simply staying 
 away from the polls, and neglecting to vote for the candidates in ques- 
 tion, hut, Providence permitting, will be at the polls without fail, and 
 vote for some one who is true to the slave — deeply sensible that it is 
 quite as important, and as jiuch our duty, to be at our post, and 
 vote for a good and true man, as it is to decline voting for one who is 
 not; and that we earnestly recomujend to all abolitionists in the District 
 to do the same. 
 
 Resolved, That the more effectually to secure this object, it be recom- 
 mended to the abolitionists in eacli town, to appoint a committee of one. 
 
 of 1834, he virtually declared the same thing himself In reply to a 
 correspondent, who complained that he had too much politics in his 
 paper, he (Lib. Dee. 27) said, — 
 
 " Hitherto, we h;ive said little or nothing in reply to the hypocritical 
 cant and lugubrious outcry which have been uttered by the pro-slavery 
 party, respecting the ' political action ' alluded to in the Declaration of 
 the National Anti-Slavery Convention; but in our next volume we shall 
 take up this subject, and tell slave traders, slaveholders, colonizationistg, 
 and all others, what we mean to do with our elective franchise, towards 
 breaking up the impious system of slavery, ^s that Declaration teas 
 penned b\i us, ive presume that we are conrpelent to give an exposi- 
 tion of its doctrines. One thing we will say, in advance of our essays, 
 that the immediate emancipation of the slaves in the District of 
 Columbia and the territories, is to be made a test at the ballot 
 BOXES, in the choice of representatives to Congress; and that no man, 
 who is a slaveholder, will receive the votes of conscientious and consist- 
 ent abolitionists, for any station in the gift of the people — especially for 
 the Presidency of the United States." 
 
 This is a plain confession that " the political action alluded to in the 
 Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention," and urged as a 
 duty, had special reference to the use of the " elective franchise." Yet 
 when this same doctrine was urged in 1838, it was resisted as an at- 
 tempt to drive non-governmentists in general, and Mr. Garrison in par- 
 ticular, from the anti-slavery ranks! The " essays " promised never 
 made their appearance. 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 two, or three, as the case may require, whose duty it shall bo to see 
 that every abolitionist ia the town is at the polls, that he may there vote 
 for the slave. t 
 
 t In the National Standard of July 23, 1840, there is an "Address 
 of the (new) Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery So- 
 ciety, to the Abolitionists of the United Slates." It is signed by James 
 S. Gibbons, Chairman, and James C. Jackson, Secretary. It pur- 
 ports to give a history of the division among the Abolitionists. " We 
 have made this development," say they, "by order of the society, to 
 the end that abolitionists, of this and of coming time, may understand 
 the true causes of the alienation which has been consummated by the 
 act of forming a new organization at New York." The document is, 
 throughout, one continued tissue of misrepresentation and of 7nisstate- 
 ment of facts. As one illustration of this, by no means the worst, we 
 select the following: — 
 
 " It is proper to observe that Messrs. Stanton and Phflps had the 
 whole control of that field " — (the 4lh District.) Thcij put in nomina- 
 tion the Rev. James Woodbury as the abolition candidate, and circu- 
 lated printed votes in his behalf. This step, we think, was in itself 
 wrong. The abolitionists of the District generally, and the Massachu- 
 setts lioard in particular, at whose e.xpense these operations were carried 
 on, had a right to be consulted, both whether a separate nomination 
 should be made, and if so who should be the individual selected." 
 
 And then, as the motive of the nomination, the address adds: — 
 
 " Mr. Woodbury had been a distinguished sympathizer with the cler- 
 ical appellants, was a friend of the national administration, and in this 
 respect harmonized with Mr. Stanton, as he did with both Stanton and 
 Phelps, in his seclarian attachments'" 
 
 Now it so happens, that not a solitary item in the above statement is 
 correctly given. Messrs. Stanton and Phelps did not have the whole 
 control of that field; they did not put .Mr. Woodbury or any one else in 
 nomination as the abolition candidate; no such candidate was put in 
 nomination by any one; nor was any thing important done, in that whole 
 campaign, without careful consultation with the abolitionists of the Dis- 
 trict generally, and the Massachusetts Board in particular. It was by 
 the direction of the Board, as their records will show, that Messrs. 
 Phelps and Stanton gave their attention to that field at that period. It 
 was by their direction too, that, prepuralory to one of the trials, Messrs. 
 St. Clair, Wise, Phillips and Russell, were all sent, \n connection with 
 Messrs. Phelps and Stanton, to lecture in the several towns there. It 
 was under their eye, and especially that of .Mr. Garrison, and only par- 
 tially at their expense, that the Liberators Extra and other documents 
 were printed and sent into the field at each of the successive trials there. 
 Previous to all, or nearly all of those trials, a convention was held of the 
 abolitionists of the District. Those conventions — and there were at least 
 three of them — were well attended, representatives being present from a 
 large majority of the towns. Each convention decided for itself, and as 
 tiie representative of the abolitionists of the District generally, the course 
 to be pursued at the election then at hand. At none of these conven- 
 tions was Rev. J. T. Woodbury or any other individual put in nomina- 
 tion as the abolition candidate. The scatterins^ system was universally 
 adopted. To facilitate its operation, the names of some five of the most 
 fromiaent aboUtioaists in the District, of both political parlies, were 
 
27 
 
 These are a specimen of the character of the resolutions 
 that were being adopted at that time in all parts of the land. 
 They affirmed voting for the slave to be a duty. This, of 
 course, was in flat contradiction of the principles ofnon-gov- 
 ernmentism. Nevertheless, so obvious was it that they were 
 only expressive of the doctrine of original and genuine abo- 
 lition, that Mr. Phillips eloquently advocated them, and 
 Mr. Garrison said not one word in opposition. This was on 
 the 11th of December, 1838. A crisis was at hand. The 
 " sifting in" process would no longer answer. Some bold 
 push must be made, or political abolition, without one wore 
 of controversy, would drive non-governmentism from thd 
 field. At the annual meeting of the State society, within 
 one short month after, that push was made ; it was to drive 
 from the field that form of political action, which, recogniz- 
 ing the right of government to exist, affirmed the use of the 
 elective franchise for the slave to be a duty, and to substitute 
 in its place a non-government form, i. e., one that should not 
 affirm the use of the franchise to be the duty of any one, but 
 should say, merely, that (/any one thought it his duty to vote 
 for the slave, and then did not, he would act inconsistently ! 
 Accordintrly, when Mr. St. Clair brought forward his resolu- 
 tion, saying, " it is the imperious duty of every abolitionist 
 who can conscientiously exercise the elective franchise, to go 
 promptly to the polls and deposite his vote," &:-c., it was seen 
 that although it had a saving clause in favor of those who 
 could not conscientiously do it, which the resolution at Con- 
 cord had not, yet it contained the obnoxious principle — it 
 affirmed it to be the duty of somebody to do it. 
 
 At once the hue and cry was raised, that the presentation 
 and passage of such a resolution was all a piece of persecu- 
 tion — a deep laid plot to drive non-resistants in general, and 
 Mr. Garrison in particular, from the anti-slavery society. 
 And this hue and cry was led off" by the very men, icho, one 
 month before, at Concord, had advocated or silently acquies- 
 ced in the passage of a resolution tvhich affirmed the same 
 
 printed on a slip of pnporand circulated, that each might make his own 
 selection, and vote for which of the five he might prefer, or for neither 
 if he pleased. This was all; and //as was done at the convention named 
 above — Messrs. Garrison, Jackson and Phillips, as Representatives of 
 the Board and members of the convention participating in the deed ! 
 
 The above is a fair specimen of the general inaccuracy of the Address, 
 and also of Rlrs. Ciiapman's books, in respect to their representations of 
 the facts connected with the late division in our ranks. 
 
28 
 
 doctrine, and had no saving clause lohatever for conscientious 
 scruples. It was to no purpose that they were assured there 
 was no such design ; that there was a saving clause for the 
 sake of the very men whom they alleged it was designed to 
 drive off. There was a plot and they knew it, and there was 
 an end of argument and of reason in the case. Moreover 
 they said that the resolution did affirm it to be the duty of 
 somebody to vote, and they, as non-resistants, could not say 
 that ; and so long as the society said it, it conflicted with 
 their views, which it had no right to do, but was bound to 
 modify its action so as not to do it. And so Mr. Garrison 
 brought in his substitute, and the modification was effected ; 
 the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was made to aban- 
 don its own original doctrines on the subject of political ac- 
 tion, and become subservient to the promotion of the dogmas 
 of non-governmentism ! 
 
 THE MASSACHUSETTS ABOLITIONIST. 
 
 In exact keeping with the same policy and the same de- 
 sign, was the conduct of the same individuals and their as- 
 sociates in respect to the establishment of the Massachusetts 
 Abolitionist. The repeated political conflicts in the 4th Dis- 
 trict, concurred with various other causes to beget the feel- 
 ing in many minds of the want of a new and cheaper paper, 
 that should specially urge the duty of political action, beadapt- 
 ted to general circulation, and be the organ of the state soci- 
 ety. The Board of Managers of the society had been fully 
 apprised of the existence of this feeling. As early as the 
 middle of November, Dr. Farnsworth of Groton, called at 
 the anti-slavery oflice to see Mr. Phelps about what should 
 be done in reference to the then next election, in the 4th 
 District. In the course of the conversation, he of his own 
 accord, said we needed a new anti-slavery paper ; to which, 
 without hesitation, Mr. Phelps responded. Dr. F. had sug- 
 gested the same thing before, at his house, to Mr. St. Clair. 
 He was indeed among the first to suggest and favor the mea- 
 sure, though afterwards opposing it. On the occasion just 
 referred to, he told Mr. Pliel[)s he would go and see Messrs. 
 Garrison and Johnson, and talk with them about it. He did 
 so. About a month after this, on the 14th of December, the 
 subject came up informally, in board meeting, and then Mr. 
 Phelps stated fully and frankly what the feeling was and what 
 the kind of paper that was needed, so far as he knew. To- 
 ward the close of that month, Mr. Phelps being absent from 
 
29 
 
 the city, the Board took up the subject in form, of establish- 
 ing such a paper. A committee was appointed, consisting of 
 Messrs. Quincy, Garrison, and Phelps, to consider and re- 
 port upon it. On the 31st of December, Mr. Phelps being 
 still absent, Mr. Quincy in behalf of himself and Mr. Garrison, 
 made the following report. 
 
 The committee to which was referred the subject of a new anti-slavery 
 paper to be the org;in of the Mass. State Society, and to be conducted 
 under its direction, beg leave to submit the following 
 
 REPORT 
 
 Your committee are given to understand that the want of an anti-sla- 
 very newspappr, of a cheaper description than the Liberator, Emanci- 
 pator, Friend of Man, &c., for gratuitous distribution by societies and 
 individuals, has been widehj fell and loudly expressed throughout the 
 Stale. If such a want exist, your committee can entertain no doubt that 
 it would be for the advantage of the cause that it should be supplied. If 
 properly conducted, such a periodical would contain in a cheap and con- 
 densed form, a great amount of anti-slavery reading which might be 
 widely disseminated by the local societies at a small expense. Such a 
 periodical, it is believed, would not interfere injuriously with the circu- 
 lation of any of the larger sheets which are issued in various portions of 
 our country for the promotion of the anti-slavery enterprise. A publi- 
 cation not unlike tiie one proposed, has been lately issued by the N. Y. 
 A. S. Society entitled the Anti-Slavery Lecturer. 
 
 As the periodical which is believed to be demanded by the friends of 
 the cause, must be in a great degree local in its character, and devoted 
 to the peculiar wants of this Stale, there seems to be a peculiar propri- 
 ety in its beinq sent forth binder the auspices of the Slate society. This 
 Board moreover, will find it a convenient organ for the publication and 
 recording of its proceedings and official acts. Its being made the organ 
 of this Board, too, would give it an importance in the eyes of the aboli- 
 tionists throughout the State, which it would want if issued by any 
 individuals, of however high standing in the anti-slavery ranks. The 
 principal objection which your committee apprehend will be urged against 
 this proposition, will arise from the expense which will attend it. 
 
 The committee show that nothing is to be apprehended on 
 this ground, and then add : — 
 
 Your committee are of opinion that the arguments in favor of such a 
 publication are of more weight than those which occur to them against 
 it. They therefore recommend that the experiment be tried; and would 
 respectfully submit the following details of the plan in the form of resolu- 
 tions, which they deem the most feasible, leaving it with the Board to 
 adopt or reject it in wliole or in part. 
 
 Resolved, That it is advisable that a periodical be published monthly, 
 under the direction of this board. 
 
 Resolved, That the name of this periodical be " The Abolitionist." 
 
 Resolved, That the Abolitionist be edited by a committee of three 
 members of this board, to be chosen by ballot. 
 
 Resolved, That the Abolitionist be furnished to individual subscribers 
 at fifty cents a copy, per annum, only on condition of payment in ad» 
 vaace, and to societies or individuals for gratuitous distribution, at twenty< 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 five cents a copy, per annum, provided the number so taken be not leas 
 thaa tea. All which is respectfully submitted, 
 
 Edmund Q,uincy, /or the Committee. 
 Boston, Dec. 31, 1838. 
 
 This report was accepted, and a committee of three ap- 
 pointed to edit the paper, with directions to issue an edition 
 of 3000 copies of a specimen number, to be laid before the 
 approaching annual meeting of the society for its approval or 
 otherwise. 
 
 The report is the board's official confession (I) that they 
 had been fully apprised of the state of feeling in respect to a 
 new paper, and (2) that, in their view, if established, there 
 would be " a peculiar propriety" in its being their " organ," 
 rather than that of " any individuals of however high standing 
 in the anti-slavery ranks." Let this be noted. 
 
 The paper they proposed to issue, however, did not meet 
 the views of those wlio desired a new one. Mr. Torrey, 
 having been informed of their action in the case, immediately 
 wrote them, urging the necessity of a weekly.* Mr. Phelps 
 also assured members of the board, and among them Mr. 
 Garrison, that it would not meet the wants of those who de- 
 sired it if it were not weekly. It was seen that this project 
 would not answer. At once the whole system of tactics was 
 chansred. Instead of seeking to soothe and win the " malcon- 
 tents," and " disorganizers," so called, the policy was adopted 
 of forcing their submission, or driving them, as " insidious 
 plotters," " traitors," &c., &c., in disgrace from the ranks. 
 The maxims of policy plainly were, "rule or ruin" — "sub- 
 mission or death." Tlie coinmittee to issue the specimen 
 number did nothing, and on the 11th of January, in an edito- 
 rial headed "Watchman, what of the night ?" Mr. Garrison 
 raised the cry of treasons and of plots. He said : — 
 
 " Strong foes are without, insi(iious plotters are within the camp. A 
 conflict is at hand — if the signs of the times do not deceive us — which is 
 to be more hotly contested, and which will require more firmness of 
 nerve and greater singleness of purpose, (combined with sleepless vigi- 
 lance and unswerving integrity,) than any through which we have past to 
 victory. Once more, therefore, we would speak trumpet tongued — • 
 sound an alarm bell — light up a beacon fire — give out a new watchword — 
 so that there m;iy be a general rallying of our early, intrepid, storm 
 proof, scarred and veteran coadjutors, at the coming anniversary — all 
 
 * It is worthy of note that among all the plot-wise letters of 3Ir. Tor- 
 rey that have been carefully gathered up and printed, the two letters 
 written to the board at this time have never yet seen the light of day, 
 nor lias a hint been givea to the public, by the " plot" manufacturers, of 
 their eiistence. 
 
31 
 
 panoplied as of yore, and prepared to give battle to internal contrivers 
 of mischief, as readily as to external and avowed enemies. 
 
 •' With pain we avow it, there is a deep scheme laid by individuals, 
 at present somewhat conspicuous as zealous and active abolitionists, to 
 put the control of the anlislavery movements in this commonwealth into 
 other hands. This scheme, of course, is of clerical origin, and the prom- 
 inent ringleaders fill the clerical office. One of the most restless was a 
 participant in the infamous ' Clerical Appeal' conspiracy, though not one 
 of the innnortal five. The design is, by previous management and 
 drilling, to etiect such a change in the present faithful and liberal minded 
 Board of Managers of the State society at the annual meeting, as will 
 throw the balance of power into the hands of a far different body of 
 men, for the accomplishment of ulterior measures which are now in 
 embryo. The next object is, to eflectthe establishment of a new weekly 
 anti-slavery journal, to be the organ cf the State society, for the purpose, 
 if not avowedly, yet designedly to subvert the Liberator, and thus relieve 
 the abolition cause in this State of the odium of countenancing such a 
 paper. Then make way for the clergy! For, by ' hanging Garri- 
 son,' and lepudiating the Liberator, they will surely condescend to take 
 the reins of anti-slavery management into their own hands. 
 
 " The plot, thus far, has been warily managed, so, if possible, to ' de- 
 ceive the very elect.' Many, we know, are already ensnared, and some, 
 at least, who neither intend nor suspect mischief. The guise in which it 
 is presented is one of deep solicitude for the success of our cause. No 
 attempt is to bo made to lower down the standard — O, no! — but simply 
 to change the men to whom has been so long entrusted the management 
 of the enterprise, and put in their place younger men, better men, who 
 will accomplish wonders, and perform their duties more faithfully — that's 
 all ! While privately, by conversation, letters, circulars, &c., &c., 
 every effort is making to disparage the Liberator, (the paper is too tame 
 for these rampant plotters!) and to calumniate its editor, no hostility to 
 either is to be openly avowed. Far from it; for honesty in this case 
 might not, peradveniure, prove to be the best policy. 
 
 The trusty friends of our good cause, and all who desire to baffle the 
 machinations of a clerical combination, will need no other notice than 
 this, to induce them to rally at the annual meeting, and watch wiih 
 jealousy and meet with firmness every attempt, however plausibly made, 
 to etiect any material change in the management of the concerns of the 
 State society. The spirit that would discard such men as Francis Jack- 
 son, Ellis (Jray Loring, Samuel E. Sewall, Edmund Quincy, and Wendell 
 Phillips, is treacherous to humanity." 
 
 Whfit is said of discarding such men as Francis Jackson, 
 Ellis Gray Loring, &:.c., was purely gratuitous. Such a thing 
 had not been thought of. Mr. Jackson had said to Mr. Stan- 
 ton that he thought of declining a re-election to the presidency 
 of the society, and in consequence, Mr. Stanton remarked to 
 some member of the Board that if he did, he thought Hon. 
 Wm. Jackson, the brother of Francis, would make a good 
 successor. Mr. St. Clair had also suggested to some one, 
 that he thought the Board ought to be enlarged, so as to take 
 
32 
 
 in some friends of the cause at Cambridgeport and Lynn, and 
 at the same time give the several religious denominations a 
 fairer proportionate representation on the Board ; and behold ! 
 a foul plot is discovered to revolutionize the Board and " sub- 
 vert the Liberator ! " 
 
 Such was the key-note given out for the annual meeting. 
 The meeting was held, and lo ! the very men that tiiree weeks 
 before had voted to establish a new paper to jneet the wants 
 of the State, now insisted that none was needed ; they who 
 then saw a " peculiar propriety " in its being the " organ" 
 of the society, would not have it so now on any account ; and 
 they who wished such a paper were told to start it themselves 
 and not tax the society with it, and were assured that if they 
 did so, there would be no complaint or opposition. No 
 sooner said than done. The paper was established, and 
 lo ! another change. Scarcely had another three weeks 
 rolled away, before the same men issued a paper of their own, 
 of the same size but cheaper than the Abolitionist, and with 
 the avowed design, first, of meeting the want in question, and 
 second, of destroying the Abolitionist ! Such facts speak 
 for themselves. 
 
 THE CHURCH, MINISTRY, AND SABBATH. 
 
 On the S-jth of February, 1839, Oliver Johnson, having 
 fully adopted the opinions and imbibed the spirit of Mr. Gar- 
 rison, addressed a letter to the church in Middlebury, Vt. in 
 which the following passages occur : — 
 
 " It 19, if ! mist;ike not, about three years since I esteemed it both a 
 duty and a privilege to become a member of your body. I then believed 
 that you w.ire in reality what you claimed, and still claim to be — a 
 church of the Lord Jesus Christ, — and consequently, that I could not 
 rightfully withdraw from you, except for the purpose of connecting my- 
 self with another similar association. It is my duty now to apprise you 
 that rny views of the nature of your organization, and, indeed, of ail the 
 ecclesiastical organizations with which 1 am acquainted, have under- 
 gone a radical change. I now regard them as mere human societies, 
 which can rightfully exercise no powers whatever, except such as may 
 have been rightfully conferred upon them by the individuals of which 
 they are composed. That they have derived, in their associated capaci- 
 ty, any power from the Great Head of the church, I do not believe; 
 and hence, it is clear to my mind, that I may as rightfully withdraw 
 from your body as from any other human society. * * * I readily 
 concede that moral beings have a right to form associations (on princi- 
 ples which do not restrict individual freedom,) for the purpose of mutual 
 edification, and the propagation of what they believe to be gospel truth, 
 but to call such associations churches of Christ, I believe to be an 
 assumption wholly unwarranted by the scriptures. Christ has but one 
 church ill the world, and the members of the church are known, not by 
 
33 
 
 their connection witli any society formed by men, but ' by their fruits,' 
 consequently a vvitlidravval from such a society is not a withdrawal from 
 the church of Christ. It is my full conviction, that Christianity has suffer- 
 ed, and is still suffering greatly from the common belief, that organiza- 
 tions which are the work of men, are churches of Ciirist; and 1 cannot 
 consent, by remaining a member of your body, to give countenance to so 
 pernicious an error." 
 
 Having thus given his view of "the nature for the 
 church organizations of the present day," he proceeded, as 
 one among " other important reasons," why he felt called 
 upon, by a withdrawal from their body, "to bear a solemn 
 testimony against them," to state that, in his belief, they are 
 " a mighty hindrance to the progress of Christianity — a block 
 before and a weight behind the wheel of gospel reform." * * 
 " When the corruptions of these organizations," he adds, 
 "first arrested my attention, I consoled myself with the hope 
 that they might be purified and reformed : but subsequent 
 reflection, and the events of the few past years, have utterly 
 destroyed that hope, and forced upon my mind the convic- 
 tion, that their overthrow, and not their reformation, is * reg- 
 istered on the scroll of Destiny.' " And he then formally 
 "withdraws" from the church. 
 
 These sentiments, it will be seen, assail the churches and 
 their connected institutions, on two grounds, first their " na- 
 ture," and second their " corruptions,'^ upon both of which, 
 it is maintained, tliey should be rejected. These, it is well 
 known, were the sentiments and feelings of Mrs. Chapman, 
 Messrs. Garrison, Benson, Qiiincy, and others of the initi- 
 ated, at this period, and for some time previously. In the 
 Reply to the Clerical Appeal, two years before, Mr. Garrison 
 declared that the " great inass of the clergy " were " nothing 
 better than hirelings, in the bad sense of that term," and 
 that their " overthrow is registered on the scroll of Des- 
 tiny." The same summer also, at Providence, he proclaim- 
 ed, as we have seen, the speedy overthrow of the nation and 
 the church. During the autunm following. Mrs. Chapman 
 is known to have said to him repeatedly, " Your first busi- 
 ness is to crush the clergy." Such, subsequently, have be- 
 come the sentiments and feelings of Messrs. H. C. Wright, 
 Collins, Whiting, Pillsbury, Foster, and others of the leaders 
 and subordinates in the movement. 
 
 It is plain that persons entertaining these sentiments, could 
 not seek the "reformation" of the churches, as their object. 
 Such reformation would but perpetuate organizations, which, 
 in their very nature, they regarded as " a mighty hindrance 
 
34 
 
 to the progress of Christianity," and especially of "gospel 
 reform." They had declared "reformation," moreover, a 
 hopeless event. Of course whatever they might do or say, 
 in respect to the churches, their object must be " overthrow," 
 not reform. Honesty would have sought this object directly 
 and openly : and to this end, would have gone back at once 
 to the "nature'^ of the organizations, and calling that in 
 question, waged its first and main conflict there. Dishonesty 
 would have sought \t indij-cctly and covertly: and to this 
 end, would have taken advantage of the anti-slavery cause, 
 to raise a hue and cry about " the corruptions of these or- 
 ganizations," in order to break down public confidence in 
 them on this ground, and then, in due time, to call in ques- 
 tion their " nature," or right to be, as such. 
 
 The latter policy was adopted. In prosecuting it, the 
 " sifting-in " process was vigorously plied. The ministry 
 were special objects of attack. " Any thing to give the cler- 
 gy a dab," said Oliver Johnson. "Wolves in sheep's cloth- 
 ing" — "Hirelings in the bad sense of the term" — "The 
 deadliest enemies of holiness, as a body, in the l?,nd," said 
 Mr. Garrison. Such were the epithets continually heaped in 
 rich eflfusion on them. They were the grand obstacles to 
 reform. " The anti-slavery car has rolled forward thus far, 
 not only without the aid, but against the combined influence 
 of the ministers and churches of the country," said Mr. 
 Johnson. (Lib. Oct. 13, 1837.) If they come into the ranks 
 it is because the cause is getting popular ; or they are clutch- 
 ing for power and mean to take the management of the 
 cause into their hands, was the imputation constantly thrown 
 out by Mr. Garrison. The churches also were represented 
 as alike corrupt. In Sept. 1838 the New England Non- 
 Resistance Convention came. With it came a renunciation 
 of civil government, coupled with the declaration, " We pur- 
 pose to apply our principles to all existing civil, political, 
 legal, and ecclesiastical institutions." Mrs. Chapman com- 
 menced the application at once. In the paper (Oct. 5) 
 following the one that contained the proceedings of the 
 Convention, she threw out some " definitions, the result of 
 observation and thought," which she hoped might prove 
 useful to any who are entangled in the weeds, that, spring- 
 ing up out of the slime of ambiguity, impede a free move- 
 ment through the waters of truth." The definitions made 
 the "church originally" and 'voluntary associations" now, 
 Bubstantially the same thing. The one was " a body of mea 
 
lelrawn together by the affections and sympathies ;" the other a 
 body of men "drawn together by an agreement in principles 
 of action, which they deem divine." 
 
 The work went on. Anti-slavery lecturers of the " right " 
 Eort were put into the field. Anti-slavery societies were 
 summoned to the passage of resolutions, denying the Chris- 
 tian name and character to the churches generally. Step 
 after step was taken, until, at the annual meeting of the Amer- 
 ican Anti-Slavery Society, in New York, in May 1840, 
 after the division had taken place, Mr. Garrison presented, 
 and the society adopted, a preamble and resolution, affirm- 
 ing that " the American church has given its undisguised 
 sanction and support to the system of American slavery," 
 and therefore "ought not to be regarded and treated as the 
 church of Christ, but as the foe of freedom, humanity, and 
 pure religion, so long as it occupies its present position."* 
 
 * The position of the churches and ministers has by no means been 
 what it should, on this subject. At the same time they have been, rela- 
 tively, very far in advance of the State and the people at large. A 
 careful statistical examination, made by Mr. Phelps, gives tiie follow- 
 ing, among other results. 
 
 Taking the country together, there is, on an average, 1 minister to 
 500 people. In the early anti-slavery conventions and meetings, of those 
 who signed the call for the Maine, New Hampshire, and first New 
 England Convention, in 1833 and 1834, more than one third were 
 ministers; of the delegates present in these and the National Conven- 
 tion at Philadelphia the same year, more than one-fifth were minis- 
 ters; and of the delegates to these and the firiit four annual meetings 
 of the American A. iS. Society, the proportion was the same. So that 
 in the A. S. reform, in its unpopular days, taking all together, the 
 ministry, as a class, were to the people, not as 1 to 500, the ratio of 
 population, but as 1 to 5. 
 
 Again, in the latter part of 1837, the Massachusetts A. S. Society 
 requested all its auxiliaries to report their name, olHcers, and number 
 of members. From the returns received it appeared that the anti-sla- 
 very societies then had a membership of 19,206 in the state, which wag 
 equivalent to 1 in 36 of the people. About the same time Mr. Phelpa 
 commenced a similar inquiry in respect to the ministry. He wrote to 
 some minister in each association, or religious connection, known to hinj 
 as a decided abolitionist, requesting tiie number of members in said 
 body, and also the number known as members of anti-slavery socie- 
 ties, on the principle of immediate emancipation. Estimating the 
 whole from the returns actually received, and it appeared that of the 
 792 ministers of all denominations then in the State, 367, or 103 more 
 than one third, or nearly half the whole, were members of such 
 societies. At that time, taking the population as a wlioie, there was in 
 ihe State 1 minister to 518 of the people. Had the ministry, as a 
 class, been equally advanced with the people, and no more, we should 
 have had 1 minister to 518 of the people in the anti- slavery societies. 
 
36 
 
 Similar resolutions were passed at other meetings. About 
 this time James Boyle, of Ohio, appeared in print again. 
 His letters were published in the Liberator with high ap- 
 proval. In one of them he said, '• Lawyers, doctors and 
 priests, are the devil's trinity — and professions, as such, must 
 perish." On the •2d of July following, in an editorial, in 
 the National Anti-Slavery Standard, prepared for^i the pur- 
 pose of expressing their views, the new E.xecutive Committee 
 of the old society said, — 
 
 Anti-slavery is a word of mighty power. Oh, it strikes at the very 
 corner-stones and key-stones of society. It aims a death-blow at long 
 cherished habits and opinions. It robs life of all factitious honors; but 
 above, and more than all, it would put an end for ever to the unrighteous 
 dominion of " /Ae church,'^ it would unseat popular theology from it3 
 throne, break down the barriers of sect, and in short, resolve society into 
 its natural elements, saving all the real progress it has made in the 
 scale of improvement. Here is the true issue on ivhlch the division 
 in our ranks has been made vp. What do " woman's rights " and 
 " nou-resistance " weigh in a contest which threatens such a revolu- 
 tion ? If it were possible to change the nature of the reform, so that it 
 should have reference only to the abolition of negro physical slavery, and 
 none whatever to the general emancipution of mind, depend upon it, 
 women and non-resistants might have participated in our action, and 
 not a thought of secession would have been tolerated. 
 
 Thus was the work of perversion consummated. The 
 very end and aim of the anti-slavery cause were changed. 
 " The general emancipation of mind," not the abolition of 
 negro physical slavery, was now its object. It went for 
 generic reform, — the " resolution of society into its natural 
 elements." Anti-slavery societies had been and were to be 
 used as a means to this, not to their original end. And it 
 was just because certain of the early abolitionists would not 
 consent to it, that the division arose. " Here," on the con- 
 fession of the party implicated, " 7vas the trueissue ; " but for 
 this, " not a thought of secession would have been tolerated." 
 
 This perversion effected, and matters stood thus. The 
 anti-slavery organizations were used to unhinge public confi- 
 dence in the ministry and churches, and to carry on the war 
 against them on the ground of their alleged pro-slavery " cor- 
 ruptions ; ■' the non-resistance associations were used by the 
 same persons to do the same work, on the ground of their 
 so-called, war-making "corruptions;" and abolitionists were 
 urged, in repeated instances, to withdraw from and bear 
 
 Instead of this, however, there was I to 52 — showing that instead of 
 being relatively behind the people, on the subject, they were in fact 900 
 per csnt. in advance! 
 
37 
 
 their testimony against these " synagogues of Satan." The 
 ■preparation work was done. All that could be effected indi- 
 rectly, through the anti-slavery organizations was effected, 
 and the time had come for the final development, — the assault 
 on the ministry and the churches as such. On, therefore, 
 came the " Church, Ministry, and Sabl)ath Convention," 
 so termed. The result of that meeting, its denial of the Sab- 
 bath and the ministry, and above all, its rejection of the Bible 
 as of supreme authority in matters of religious faith and 
 duty, are well known. Mr. Garrison feared, beforehand, 
 that the calling of the meeting was " somewhat premature." 
 Afterwards, he rejoiced in its result, because he " believed 
 that the truth as it is in Jesus was signally promoted by 
 it;" and Kneeland's infidel Investigator rejoiced in it as "a 
 monument of the vincibility of prejudice, and the triumph of 
 plain truth." 
 
 THE SPIRIT, SECTARIANISM, AND DISHONESTY OF THE 
 LEADERS. 
 
 A {e\v facts in illustration of these points must close 
 this humiliating and painful development. They will also 
 show, we think, that the very sectarianism and dishonesty 
 so often charged upon the secession, really belong to the other 
 party. 
 
 At an early stage of our contentions, a difficulty occurred 
 between the Executive Committees of the National and State 
 Societies, in respect to the payment of a pledge due the for- 
 mer from the latter. The committee of the State Society 
 sent a sub-committee, consisting of Messrs. H. G. Chap- 
 man and others, to New York, to remonstrate with the 
 committee of the National Society, to induce them to change 
 their decision in the case. Soon after their return, Mr. H. G. 
 Chapman met Mr. Stanton in the anti-slavery office, 25 
 Cornhill, and almost the first salutation was — " By G — d, 
 your committee at New York are wliat I call d — n small 
 coffee." 
 
 Nor was this a solitary instance of the kind. The use of pro- 
 fane language is not unfrequent with that individual, at least, 
 on exciting occasions. Y'^et with this fact well known to his 
 immediate friends, he has been put in nomination year after 
 year, and elected to the office of treasurer of an institution 
 that asks the co-operation and the charities of Christians, 
 and has been heralded in the Martyr Age and elsewhere as 
 4 
 
38 
 
 " an excellent man," with a " spirit of self-denial" worthy of 
 all praise ! 
 
 Again, the Rev. Alanson St. Clair, at the commencement 
 of the difficulties, was an agent of the State Society, and a 
 Restorationist and Christ-ian in his religious sentiments. 
 Subsequently he has changed his religious views, and is now 
 a member in good standing of an Orthodox Congregational 
 Church in New Hampshire. The strange developments 
 made, in the course of our divisions, on the part of those 
 with whose religious sentiments he, at the outset, sympathiz- 
 ed, have done much in efl'ecting this change. On the 8th 
 of March, 1841, in reply to inquiries made by Mr. Phelps, 
 Mr. St. Clair made the following statements in writing. 
 
 You are aware that my confiJcnce in Mr. Garrison and .Tohnson, as 
 men of truth and integrity, was formerly very strong and full. In the 
 former it rernained so till the course he adopted and pursued in relation 
 to the Massachusetts Abolitionist. In Mr. J. it was pariially alienated 
 and impaired the summer previous. In one instance he made a remark 
 which led me to question the motives with which he was attacking 
 ministers, and in another to fetir that he was vvillina lo sacrihre the anti- 
 blavery cause to his oilier peculiar views. I'lie first remark was the 
 more surprising, as I did not suspect, at the time, his views in relation 
 to ihe Christian ministry and cliureh, which have since been developed. 
 
 During the summer of 1838, while Mr. Garrison was at Brooklyn and 
 Mr. Johnson was editing the Liberator, a statement about a clergyman 
 was published in the paper, which, kiH)wi(ig the circumstances, I was 
 aware was untrue. l*.ni supposing Mr. J. h;id mtide it by mistake, 
 through misrepreseiitalion, and wi>ul(l be willing to correct it, I stated 
 the f.icts 10 iiim, and desired him to do so. ?ome time afterwards, as he 
 did not, I remiiiiled him of it again. He replied, " Never mind it; any 
 thing to give the clergy a dab." 
 
 From the time the attempt was made in Boston to form an evangelical 
 anti-slavery society, Mr. J. often manifested a cordial hatred of evan- 
 gelical principles ;is well as men. At one lime during the summer of 
 1838, on my combatting some loose opinion advanced by liim, he re- 
 plied that I was" gt^ttingto be too everhisling evangelical. " At another 
 he manifested his contempt by sneeringly calling the bathing tubs at 
 the Marlboro' Chapel, " the evangelical watering troughs." A'or did 
 he share this hatred alone; but many other then and now leaders of the 
 old organization, partook of the same feeling, and ihis has been tlie most 
 powerful motive in tlie course they have since pursued, and ihe secret of 
 many of their movements. For the trutli of this remark take the fol- 
 lowing instances as proof. 
 
 At the time the question of establishing the Massachusetts Abolition- 
 ist was pending, in the winter of 1838 — 39, great etlorls were made by 
 the leading friends of the Liberator to induce me lo abandon the project. 
 The evening before the annual meeting of liie IN'ass. A. S. ^^<'ciely, while 
 returning from Canibridgeporl, in company with Rev. J. V. Uiines, of 
 whose church I was then a meiiiber, he inquired w}iy I wanted another 
 
39 
 
 paper — why the Liberator was not sufficient? I replied, for two rea- 
 sons. First, we wanted one so cheap lliat every r.hoiitionist could and 
 would take it; and second, we wanted one ftee froin ohjectionuhle ex- 
 traneous topics. The Liberator was two dollars and a iialf a year, and 
 devoted just as truly to ihe " woman question" and the overthrow of liu- 
 man government, as to the aholition of slavery. He admitted the cliar- 
 ges, but said if we estal)lislied another paper it would *' bring the Ortho- 
 dox into power." 1 asked whom he meant by Orthodox. He replied, 
 "all the so called evangelicals " Then, 1 remarked, they constitute nine- 
 tenths of the abolitionists in the State. He said he was not prepared to 
 dispute it, but that hedid not like their mode of doing business; that 
 hitherto the anti-slavery cause had been kept out of tlieir hands, and that 
 he meant to keep it out if he could. 
 
 This was the first development of sectarianism of so palpable and 
 barefaced a nature, which I had ever witnessed in connection with any 
 anti-slavery movetnent. Mr. Himes was and still is a member of the 
 Board of Managers of the old society in Massachusetts — a " no-gov- 
 ernment" and " woman's rights" man, and a cordial hater of evangeli- 
 cal Christians. I had frequently, during the summer and autumn pre- 
 vious, heard the Executive Committee at New York hinted at as per- 
 sons of doubtful trustworthiness, on account of llieir evangelical charac- 
 ter, whom it would not lie amiss to remove. But here was the opea 
 avowal of an intention, by a leading member of the Boston Committee, 
 to keep the control and influence ol" the anti slavery movement in the 
 hands of a stnall minority , because he disliked the religious views of 
 the majority. I was alarmed at the disclosure, and, as you are awaie, 
 the same evening staled the fact to you and \\. B. Stanton, which you 
 threw out by insinuations the following evening, in the public meeting. 
 The next day was the annual meeting of the State society. On enter- 
 ing the Marlboro' Chapel, I was met by several friends, who informed 
 me that George Benson, brother-in-law of Mr. Garrison, was inquir- 
 ing for, and anxious to see me. 1 now met him — with much anxiety he 
 desired me to accompany him to a lobby, where lie immediately opened 
 the subject of the newspaper, which was to come before the meeting for 
 discussion and action. It was all, he assured me, an Orthodox plot and 
 trick, to get the anti-slavery cause into their own iiands, and throw 
 Garrison overboard. I inquired for the evidence; he had none to give, 
 but endeavored to produce conviction, by repeating the asseition. I 
 asked if he supposed I would be guilty of any such plot. He replied, 
 No. Me and his frien<ls thought me deceived; but still it was a plot, 
 and if I would come out and abandon the proposition for a paper, they 
 could show it to be such. 1 asked how. He replied by showing that 
 there was nobody in fivor of it but the Orthodox. 1 assured him, if 
 there was any plot in the matter, I was guilty of it; for I had first laid 
 the project before a few abolition friends; and then, at the request of 
 Dea. Everett, had presented it in resolutions before a county meeting, 
 which had adopted it with but one dissenting vote. He next endeavored 
 to carry his point, by representing that the paper, if established, would 
 bring the Orihudox into power, who would kick me overboard with him, 
 for my trouble. Finding I was not moved by the fear of such a terrible 
 result, he attempted to dissuade me from my purpose by flattery, assur- 
 ing me how much confidence he and his friends had reposed in me to 
 carry forward .Mr. (larrison's views and interests in Massachusetts, and 
 that they would be ready to overlook any trifling error and give their full- 
 
40 
 
 est confidence. Nor was he slow or backward in makinjr promises of 
 any thing in their power to bestow, in case I would abandon that "Or- 
 thodox plot," and return to Mr. G.'s interest. 13ut as this did not pro- 
 duce its desired effect, he ne^t addressed my fears; slating that the Or- 
 thodox abolitionists had no confidence in me, but would certainly kick 
 nie wiih him overboard the motuent a paper should be esiablished. I 
 asked lor evidence of these charjres. He did not attempt to give any, 
 except an account of H. B. Slanlon's basing at sundry times, made nie 
 the subject of ridicule, which he afterwards denied, on i)eing brought 
 face to face with Stanton on tiie subject. T his inters iew in paired my 
 confidence in iMr. Benson. I saw that, like Mr. Garrison and Himes, 
 while he was charging sectarianism on ibe orthodox (whom he explained 
 to be Congregalionalisis, I'resb\ lerians, Episcopalians, Baptists and Meth- 
 odists,) he was governed purely by this princijile himself. 
 
 A few days after it iiad been agreed i)y the friends of the Mass. Ab- 
 olitionist what sort of a paper ii should be, and when started, I called on 
 Mr. (larrison to let him know what we intended to do. He remarked 
 that he deprecated the measure — it would open a door to let all those 
 persons into the anti-slavery ranks, whom it bad always been his object 
 to keep out. Surprised at this remark, 1 asked bitn if he did not sup- 
 pose the paper was to 1)8 anti-slavery. He said yes. I inquired if he 
 supposed it was to compromise abolition principles. He said no: he 
 had no fears but ttiat it would be liigb toned. Tiien I asked how it could 
 open a door of admission to the anti-slavery ranks to any but abolition- 
 ists; and who they were whom he wished to keep out. He gave no 
 explanation, but repealed that it would open a door to all those whom 
 he Ind always labored to keep out. F'rom bis exceeding haired of min«- 
 isters, a remark be is said once to have made, viz: that being a clergy- 
 man is prima ficie evidence of a bad man, the remark lie endorsed in 
 his paper that clergymen "would ralher have a religion and priesthood 
 from hell than none at all," and frou) his uniform denunciations of 
 that class, whether in or out of soci(;ties, I supposed he meant minis- 
 ters. But as he refused to explain himself, I have no other evidence 
 of liis tneaning. 
 
 A few days before the Albany convention, the same summer, on 
 going into the same office one morning, my attention was directed to 
 two pictures — caricatures, — fastened up on the left hand, among many 
 others representing »he atrocities of slavery. They were dravsn in pen- 
 cil, of a coarse, vulgar character, designed to ridicule broibers Orange 
 Scott, John G. VVhiilier, and William Goodell. In one picture was 
 drawn Br. Scott alone, in the dress of a soldier, with high boots, long 
 huge spurs, epiulelts on the shoulders. Napoleon bat. high nodding 
 plume, a long sword banging by the left side, a brace of pistols in his 
 belt, a huge bovvie knife in bis left hat)d, and in the right, a lance or spear, 
 one end resting on the ground, and from the other hanging a flowing 
 streamer, labelled "the staff of accomplishment." From his mouth 
 were proceeding the words: " 1 b.iie non-resistance with a perfect ha- 
 tred; the Prince of I'eace, is not the Prince of Orange." Ihider his 
 feet in large capitals, were the words, " AN AMBASSADOR OF THE 
 PRINCE OF I'EACE IN FULL CANONICALS." 
 
 On the other picture were drawn Scott, Whiilier, and Goodell. Scott 
 occupied the right, VVhiiti r the centre, and Goodell the left. The 
 design of Scott's dress was that of a clergvnian, with bands round the 
 neck, like those worn by Episcopal clergymen, bare headed, poslura 
 
41 
 
 exhibiting grent fury, a pistol in tlie left hand, right arm raised and fist 
 clenched as if to strike some one, and these words proceeding from his 
 mouth : — " If you irnull tne, I'll ship your chops; for I hate non-resist- 
 ance with a perfect hatred." (joodell stood on tiie left, facing Scott, 
 Friend of Man in his left hand, right arm raised and hand pointed toward 
 Hcott, with the following words coming from his mouth : " Go uhead 
 brother, show yourself true pluck, and I'll back )ou. By the by, it ia 
 high time I got out my new evangelical piper, in wliich I shall show 
 that all kinds of forgiveness are criminal, except when a man buys 
 and sells you as an ox; in that ease only forgiveness becomes a duty." 
 
 In the centre stood Whitiier in his Quaker dress, with the Pa. Free- 
 man in his left hand, right arm raised, and he addressing Scott and 
 Goodell in these words. " I'll join you, brethren, in a moment, if you 
 will only show me how to get rid of this Quaker coat." lender the feet 
 of the whole was drawn, in large ca|iiials, " FlGHTlfsG CHRIS- 
 TIANS COMING 'J'O THE gCRATClI." 
 
 I asked the clerk or man behind tlie counter, who put them up. He 
 said it was the work of the non-resistants. I inquired wlio. He said 
 Comstock drew them. I asked who had them put in that office. He 
 said Collins and Johnson. I inquired if Mr. Garrison knew they were 
 there. He replied, of course; lie is in and out every day. I inquired 
 if he knew that Rlr. G. was aware of it. And he replied yes; lie h:.d 
 frequently seen him laughing at them with others. I then took a paper, 
 wrote down their appearance and what was written, and said to him if 
 he did not take them down I would expose the whole. He replied that 
 he disapproved of it, but it was more tl.an liis commission was worth to 
 reidove them. Yours for the truth, A. St. Clair. 
 
 The committee forbear. They are humbled and mortified 
 at the developments which have been made in the progress of 
 this division, and which they have now felt constrained to 
 lay before the public. They reveal sentiments and designs 
 and traits of character, which, with two or three exceptions, 
 the committee did not suspect, before the division commen- 
 ced, to exist. They have been withheld from the public, gen- 
 erally, to the very last — till forbearance has ceased to be a 
 virtue. They are now given in sheer justice to those most 
 implicated, to the anti-slavery public, and to posterity. They 
 are given as specimens of others like them. They are given 
 with sorrow of heart, yet in the hope that with this presenta- 
 tion of the case the controversy, on our part, will end. 
 
 VOLUNTARY SOCIETIES. 
 
 There is a tendency in the minds of some men, aboli- 
 tionists as well as others, to overlook the proper boundaries 
 between the province and duties of voluntary societies, and 
 those of the great permanent institutions of society in church 
 and in the State. A voluntary society is not a church, with 
 its ordinances and forms of worship, and disciplinary powers; 
 ucr a government, with its system of civil aud penal law. 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 Nor is it a substitute for eitlier. The heaven-appointed in- 
 stitutions, for the perpetuation and extension of tlie gospel, 
 and for the preservation of liberty nnd social order, can never 
 be set aside, or beneficially exchanged for any otlier plans, 
 by any power less authoritative than the divine voice by 
 which they were established. 
 
 But, like every other institution administered by men, im- 
 perfect in wisdom and goodness, they may be perverted in 
 part, or wholly, from their legitimate ends; or through the 
 supineness, or ignorant or criminal apathy of the administra- 
 tors, cease to discharge some one or more of the duties en- 
 trusted to them. i\nd it is a principle universally true, that 
 the guilly will never reform themselves, without the pressure 
 of some external influence. 
 
 IJere, then, is the proper province of voluntary societies, 
 viz., to reform or reanimate the social, civil and ecclesiastical 
 institutions of the community. The latter are the necessary 
 and permanent arrangements of man in social life. The for- 
 mer,* temporary in duration and specific in design. They 
 are, and must be, in the first instance, composed, not of the 
 churches and municipalities, but of those individual members 
 of these bodies who see the need of reform, and are able to 
 agree together to employ the most judicious means to effect 
 it. When these means have been used with such success as 
 to rouse the churciies and municipalities, to the discharge 
 of their duties, the work of the voluntary society is done. 
 Its continuance is useless if not injurious. 
 
 The design of abolition societies was, and is, to effect a 
 reform both in church and in State, both of which we judged 
 were corrupted by the influences and gains of slavery, in al- 
 most every department of their organization. We aim to 
 rouse the churches, of every sect, to purify themselves from 
 all connection with the system of slavery, and the several 
 governments of our own and of other countries to terminate 
 its legal existence. That we have not yet made such pro- 
 gress in our work, that we can dispense with our societies, 
 we think is obvious. But that mucli progress has been made 
 towards this result, we firmly believe. 
 
 * Those associations, like missionary and Bible societies, are indeed 
 "voluntary," liecause no one is compelled to join them. 13ut they 
 should 'oe rejarded simply, as the judicious arrangements of a church 
 already (so I'nr) reformed, and awake to its duly, to extend its bounda- 
 ries, by the conversion of the unbelieving. 
 
43 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE DIVISION. 
 
 Some persons, without due consideration, have supposed 
 that the division in our ranks has liindered the onward course 
 of the work. It is true, that for a time some were disheart- 
 ened. Amid the din of internal warfare some almost forgot 
 the slave; and a few of the faint-hearted withdrew wholly 
 from our associations. But those who deemed the division 
 so disheartening, do not sufficiently consider what would 
 liave been our present position without it. Had tlie insid- 
 ious poison of Antinomian perfectionism been allowed to 
 make its way unchecked, through all the ranks of the anti- 
 slavery host, we had now been engaged, as a body, as a few 
 of our former coadjutors are, in a bitter but fruitless warfare 
 upon the permanent institutions of society and of religion, 
 unmindful of the cry of the perishing poor — while the pos- 
 sibility of any real progress in our appropriate business 
 would have been destroyed. In a word, whatever of advance- 
 ment in the cause has taken place since the division in the 
 winter of IS39, must be attributed to the new organizations, 
 or to the previously e.xisting agencies which were saved from 
 the grasp of the no-government faction by the influence, di- 
 rect and indirect, of the protest against and the stern resis- 
 tance of their insidious designs. 
 
 Nearly all the existing state and local societies, in every 
 part of the land, have, by withdrawing auxiliaryship and 
 other measures, cut loose from this destroyer of our harmony. 
 While the very few that still adhere to it, nominally, are 
 rendered exceedingly cautious in their downward niovements. 
 If they do any thing for the cause, as we are happy to ex- 
 press our belief that some of them do, it is one of the results 
 of the division. But for this, acting as a conservative power, 
 they might have been wholly perverted ere this. 
 
 CHURCH ACTION. 
 
 This society and its auxiliaries have held, from the begin- 
 ning, that it was the duty of Christian churches to withdraw 
 fellowship, after due admonition, from slaveholders, as per- 
 sons whose conduct is immoral ; and who, therefore, should 
 never be recognized as Christians in good standing, until 
 they cease to rob and oppress their poor brethren. Your 
 committee rejoice to record the fact that such views, and the 
 correspondent practice, have made rapid progress the past year. 
 
 1. Cluite a number of local churches, in this Slate, of the 
 Baptist, Congregational, and Freewill Baptist denomina- 
 
44 
 
 tions, have taken the scriptural ground of refiisinor any longer 
 to receive slaveholders to tlieir pulpits and communion. 
 Many others, in other States, have done the same. 
 
 2. Several ecclesiastical bodies in our State, among others 
 the Essex Norih and Middlesex Union (Cong.) associations, 
 have attempted to influence slaveholding professors to " do 
 justice" by correspondence. The able and affectionate ap- 
 peal of the former body to the Charleston, South Carolina, 
 Union Presbytery, composed extensively of " Northern men 
 with Southern principles," and practices, too, was returned 
 with contempt! We regard this event with the more inter- 
 est, because the Essex North Association has been hitherto 
 silent on the subject. We trust the exhil)iiion of anti-chris- 
 tian feeling, on the part of men educated, chiefly, in their 
 very midst, (at Andover Theological Seminary,) will lead 
 them and others to take more decided abolition ground in 
 respect to church action. The correspondence of the Gen- 
 eral Conference of Maine, with southern ecclesiastics, re- 
 sulted in prompt and thorough action, on the part of that 
 body. Similar correspondence has been carried on, the past 
 year, by other bodies, in Vermont and other States, the re- 
 sult of which is not yet developed. 
 
 3. Many important conventions of Christians have been 
 held the past year, in this and other States. The State 
 conventions of the Baptists, at Worcester, the Universalists, 
 at Lynn, the Presbyterians and Congregationalists at Con- 
 cord, N. li., the Baptists at Topsham, ]\le., the Friends in 
 Indiana, with many others, of more limited districts, have 
 given an impulse to the cause which will never cease to 
 be felt till slavery dies. The National Baptist and Meth- 
 odist A. S. Conventions were numerously attended, and, in 
 both cases, A. S. "Societies were formed, for the purpose 
 of acting with greater efficiency to purify their respective 
 denominations. 
 
 The influence already exerted upon Southern Baptists, by 
 the action and publications of the Am. Bap. A. S. Society, 
 we regard as a pledge that the churches of that great de- 
 nomination will never rest till they are purified from the 
 pollutions of slavery. 
 
 The effect of special effort in the other great denomina- 
 tion referred to, is equally apparent, both in respect to the 
 number and character of their periodicals, and the tone of 
 their conferences and societies. 
 
 4. It is almost impossible to enumerate the strictly eccle- 
 
45 
 
 siastical bodies, of different sects, which have taken the right 
 ground, on this Kubject, the past year. Among them may 
 be mentioned the Presbyterian Synod and Congregational 
 Association of Illinois, tlie Synod of Cincinnati, the General 
 Association of Connecticut, the Congregational Association 
 of N. Y. State, the Worcester Norlb (Cong.) Conference, 
 the Vermont (Bapt.) State Convention, the Synod of In- 
 diana, the Synod of Micliigan, the Wendell (Bnpt.) Associ- 
 ation, and about 30 or 40 other B.iptist Associations, and 
 more than as many more Presbyteries and Congregational 
 Associations, besides Metliodist, Freewill Baptist, Ciiristiaii, 
 Lutheran, Covenanter, and Reformed Presbyterian synods, 
 conferences, quarterly meetings, and other bodies, connected 
 with these and other sects, embracing several hundred min- 
 isters and churches, which have, mostly for the first time, 
 taken high abolition ground, since our last anniversary. 
 There are very few ecclesiastical bodies in the New England 
 States which have not acted decisively, on the subject. 
 Of these a large portion have taken tlie ground of imme- 
 diateism. And it is believed that a large majority of the 
 ministers of the free States have publicly avowed their con- 
 viction of the truth of our views, in respect to slavery and 
 its remedy. The ministers, as a body, have ever been, rel- 
 atively, far in advance of the j)eople. 
 
 As a sample of the general tenor and spirit of the action 
 of these bodies, as well as of the various convrntions before 
 mentioned, we quote a single resolve of the Wendell (Bap- 
 tist) Association in this State. 
 
 Resolved, That the slaveholder, though found in the Chrislian Cliiirch, 
 or professinw lo be a iniiiis'.er of lli<3 i;(l^pel, ib, tioi va iilii-i.-iid iig, in the 
 practice of heinous sins; and llial llie Cellovvs-liip oi ilie diiJidits of the 
 North, when extended to the flavthoU'rr, is a rellow>liip \\iih Known 
 and arknovvledf^ed sin-; and that w iiholdiii<; fellou>iiip fioin such is 
 withdrawing the sanction of ihe church fioni lieinous sin. 
 
 5. The action on this subject at the World's Convention, 
 last summer, was in accordance with these views. Early in 
 the sessions of that important body, the subject of church 
 action was referred to a committee to consider and report. 
 And, after a day's discussion in committee, and a protracted 
 discussion in convention, influenced very considerably, if not 
 chiefly by the appeals and arguiTients of " new orgnnization- 
 ists," and to a great extent, by one of the delegates from this 
 society, the convention voted, with great unanimity, in favor 
 of excluding slaveholders from Christian fellowship. The 
 
46 
 
 moral effect of this decision is seen in the numerous instances 
 in which British Christiniis, inchiding the whole Methodist 
 denomination, the General Baptists, the Scottish Congrega- 
 tional Union, besides nuinerous local churches, have respond- 
 ed to their vote, as well as the increased frequency of such 
 action in tliis country. Already, not slaveholders alone, but 
 their apologists, begin to find that the Christianity of Britain 
 has "no fellowship with" that " unfruitful work ofdarkness," 
 slavery. Soon the slaveholder and those who defend him will 
 find that all who are wortliy to bear the name of Christian, 
 repel from their embraces those who commit or uphold others 
 in committing this worst of criines, the plunder of the poor. 
 Meantime, we should remember that from the nature of 
 the mind, and the laws of society, every great change which 
 is not urged on by the pressure of present self-interest or the 
 voice of passion, is slow in reaching masses of men and 
 controlling their action. And while we urge the duty of 
 action upon others, we should not be too impatient if they 
 are less prompt than our wishes. How long our Heavenly 
 Father endured our own blindness and unbelief on this sub- 
 ject ! Let us be patient, but vigilant, active, persevering; 
 and we shall triumph. 
 
 The developments of hostility in southern slaveholding 
 churches, and the servility of a portion of the leading reli- 
 gious men and ministers in our large towns, where slavery 
 exerts the most influence, should encourage, rather than 
 alarm us. The conduct of the (New School) General As- 
 sembly of the Presbyterian Church, in requesting its Presby- 
 teries to rescind their action against slavery, after solemnly 
 referring the inatter to them for decision, has been nobly 
 rebuked by many of the subordinate bodies. Nor does 
 the conduct of the General Conference of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church, in excluding the testimony of its 
 80,000 colored members, wherever the civil law forbids their 
 testimony, and thus exposing thousands of unprotected mem- 
 bers to every ruflian who may choose to assault them, fail to 
 meet with stern rebuke from the thousands of the true-heart- 
 ed in that body. 
 
 The exclusion of Elon Galusha from the Missionary Board 
 of the Baptist denoniination, by a combination of slavehold- 
 ers and their northern defenders, will never be submitted to 
 by the followers of Roger Williams. Tliese are the last vic- 
 tories of the slave power in these great denominations. They 
 are such victories that another would kill the conquerors. 
 
47 
 
 LITERARY INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The removal of all restrictions upon the formation of an 
 anti-slavery society in Andover Seminary, a measure which 
 Prof. Stuart strenuously advocated, and the formation of an 
 abolition society in Amherst College, together with the recep- 
 tion of two colored students in Phillip's Academy, at Ando- 
 ver, and of one at Amherst College, on equal terms with 
 others, coupled with the fact that Dartmouth College is the 
 abode of freedom, demonstrate that our cause makes progress 
 in the literary circles as well as in other classes of society. 
 
 THE CANADA MISSION. 
 
 The doors of Liberty's temple in Canada have stood open 
 during the year to all comers, and probably more than a 
 thousand toil worn captives have entered it and found rest. 
 Hiram Wilson and his coadjutors have continued their self- 
 denying labors for the diffusion of the blessings of education 
 and Christianity among them, with much success. We are 
 happy to announce the organization of a Missionary Board, 
 at Rochester, N. Y., to take charge of this mission, who 
 will be responsible for the proper application and expenditure 
 of what is contributed. To this mission, as also to the 
 expenses of tlie Amistad trial, the friends of our society have 
 contril>uted, the past year, with their accustomed readiness 
 and liberality. These olijects, and other similar incidental 
 objects, should be liberally sustained, without losing sight, 
 however, of the paramount importance of more direct efibris 
 to promote the general cause. 
 
 POLITICAL ACTION. 
 
 We turn now to the other great department of public 
 action in behalf of the slave. 
 
 1. The duty o^ acting politically was the corner stone of 
 our society. The attempt to set aside the declaration of it, 
 by the no-governnient leaders, was the chief cause of our se- 
 cession from them. The society and its committee have 
 ever maintained the ground then assumed, viz : that duty to 
 God and our country required us to enqjloy our political power 
 for the immediate overthrow of slavery. The society and 
 its committee have never pledged themselves to any spaijic 
 mode of discharging that duty, leaving this an open question 
 to be decided according to the circum^!lances of the case. 
 
 At the time the second Albany Convention was called, 
 your committee addressed a public circular to the " voting 
 
48 
 
 abolitionists" of the State, in which they remark, " We 
 believe the right of suffrage to be a gift bestowed on the cit- 
 izen, which, as a Christian freeman, he is sacredly bound to 
 exercise, which obligation is enhanced by the magnitude of 
 the question on which he is called to vote ; and there being 
 no longer any reason to hope that such candidates, viz., those 
 in favor of immediate abolition, will be presented by either 
 party at the next Presidential election, we think the time has 
 fully come for our friends to meet and gravely consider the 
 question whether they will or will not supply the deficiency, 
 by nominating men upon whom they can concentrate their 
 suffrages, without a sacrifice of their principles and the cause 
 of humanity." They conclude by assuring our friends that 
 if the Albany meeting should decide "to put abolition can- 
 didates in nomination, that decision will be carried out in 
 good faith by the great body of voting abolitionists in this 
 commonwealth." 
 
 The editors of our paper and all our agents have been al- 
 lowed to pursue their own course on this subject, as on all 
 others, without restriction. Some of our agents have been by 
 no means favorable to such a course, and have exerted their 
 influence against it. The position of the committee and of 
 the society has ever remained unchanged. Nor would we 
 recommend any change in principle, at this time. The so- 
 ciety and its auxiliaries have always expressed their conviction 
 that the claims of the slave should hold a paramount place at 
 the polls, and in the halls of legislation. The conviction that 
 every interest of our country, and every dictate of humanity 
 and religion requires this, has been impressed upon our minds 
 more powerfully than ever, by the events of the past year. 
 At the same time, the question of t'le propriety of an entirely 
 independent course of political action, seems to be settled 
 in the minds of nearly all wliose active co-operation in our 
 cause can be depended upon for the future. So decided was 
 this conviction in the minds of the members of the parent 
 society, at its late meeting, that it was voted unanimously to 
 recommend a change in that article of its constitution which 
 had been deemed by some, adverse to an efficient promotion 
 of this form of political action. And since, to use the lan- 
 guage of the annual report of the Am. and For. A. S. Soci- 
 ety, the Liberty Party movement has become an " integral 
 part of the anti-slavery enterprise," and, in the judgment of 
 our most valued coadjutors, is the wisest mode in which we 
 can discharge our highest political duties, the committee deem 
 
49 
 
 it the course of sound policy and of duty, to give it their de- 
 cided and efficient encouragement, in every suitable way, 
 while at the same time, the machinery of political arrange- 
 ments should be left as heretofore, to conventions of legal 
 voters, under the direction of their own organizations. It is 
 confidently believed that the Liberty Party will hereafter, unite 
 not only all those who are now known as the friends of human 
 rights, but the great mass of our fellow citizens who are op- 
 posed to the continuance of the demoralizing and impover- 
 ishing system of slave labor. 
 
 The Liberty Party, liiie other parties, will define its own 
 system of public policy. We do not deem it necessary to 
 pledge our individual approval of every feature of its future 
 policy. But no other party makes the overthrow of sla- 
 very any part of its designs, while this is the great work of 
 the Liberty Party, to which all other things are subordi- 
 nate. Should it follow the example of other parties, and be- 
 come servile and corrupt, we shall hold ourselves as ready to 
 condemn it as we are now to commend it to public favor. 
 But this we have no present reason to anticipate. 
 
 THE LATE NATIOJVAL ELECTION. 
 
 The history of the late contest presents instructive lessons 
 on this subject. While both the old parties placed in nomi- 
 nation slaveholding candidates for the Vice Presidency, and 
 pro-slavery candidates for the first office in the gift of the 
 people, they so managed as to deceive the mass of abolition- 
 ists into the belief that the success of their parties was essen- 
 tial to the prosperity of our cause. This was especially the 
 case with the whig party. The liberty nomination came too 
 late to rescue the majority from the snare : 7000 men, of 
 whom Massachusetts furnished nearly one fourth, were found 
 who would not compromise at all with slavery for the sake 
 of party; and we have yet to hear of any one of the number 
 who does not rejoice at his course. And we cannot but re- 
 gard that solemn event by which the late chief magistrate 
 was removed from life and its cares, almost before he had en- 
 tered upon his official labors, and by which, consequently, a 
 slaveholder, devoted to the slave interests, has been placed in 
 the presidential chair, as a rebuke to those of us who forgot 
 our principles, by contributing to elevate such men to office ; 
 and a providential warning to us all, to remember that to 
 walk in the path of duty and humanity to the crushed bond- 
 man, is the best, the only way to secure that political and 
 5 
 
50 
 
 financial prosperity which is among the chief ends of good 
 government. Certainly no plan could have been devised, by 
 which every interest of the free labor States would have been 
 more completely subjected to the control of the cotton, su- 
 gar and tobacco interests, or the despotic slave power, whose 
 control over the finances and general legishition and diplo- 
 macy of our government, has heretofore proved so disastrous. 
 It is difficult to believe that the free north, embarrassed by 
 the loss of more than §'200,000,000 irrecoverable southern 
 debt, within five years past, will consent much longer to sub- 
 mit to be ruled by a reckless, bankrupt, unprincipled minori- 
 ty, because that minority possess the impudence and selfish- 
 ness so characteristic of a slaveholding community, whose on- 
 ly interest, slave labor, enables them, on all occasions, with- 
 out sacrifice, to act in combination. We, too, must act to- 
 gether, for the great interests of that system of free labor 
 which is the basis of our prosperity, and of our whole social 
 system. Perhaps the North may need the teaching of another 
 five years of financial embarrassment, ere they will learn that 
 slavery and freedom cannot co-exist and both prosper. But 
 we trust not. Men who have been hostile to our cause, have 
 learned from their ledgers and cash books lessons on this 
 subject which all our agents and presses could never teach 
 them. And such lessons men seldom forget. 
 
 LIBERTY PARTY IN THIS STATE. 
 
 Soon after the Albany convention in 1840, the friends of 
 independent nominations in the State held a State conven- 
 tion, nominated an electoral ticket, and candidates for State 
 offices ; and took measures to secure an eflicient political or- 
 ganization in all parts of the State. They issued, at their 
 expense, several extras of our paper, prepared by them, em- 
 bodying a mass of facts and reasonings representing the po- 
 litical' and financial power of slavery, which made a strong 
 impression upon the public mind, the influence of which will 
 be felt more and more in future elections. The untiring ef- 
 forts of that committee and their agents secured nearly 1600 
 votes of liberty candidates, being more than were ever before 
 given in this State for abolitionists ; and that, too, in a time oi 
 unprecedented party excitement, when it was almost impossi- 
 ble to gain a hearing. In several subsequent elections in 
 this and other States, the liberty votes have increased* from 
 
 *In Worcester district tlie increase from Nov. to May, was from 126 
 to 233. la Bristol Co.. in several towns, four fold. In several towns in 
 
51 
 
 three io ten-fold; and they will continue to increase till sla- 
 very is overthrown. 
 
 In the language of a southern slaveholder, " the united po- 
 litical power of the abolitionists at the North will enlighten 
 the South more, in one day, than all the books which have 
 been published." Such light is needed here, as well as in 
 Alabama, and will be equally convincing and effectual. 
 
 The recent unanimous nomination of Messrs. Birney and 
 Morris as the national liberty candidates for 1844, by dele- 
 gates from eleven States, show that its beams will not be want- 
 ing to flash conviction upon the darkened mind of the nation, 
 hereafter. 
 
 THE AMISTAD CASE. 
 
 Our last annual report noticed the fact that the Amistad 
 and her owners were in captivity, and in danger of deliver- 
 ance to the horrors of Cuban slavery and death, through the 
 servility of our government officers. With gratitude to God 
 we record their rescue from thraldom, and their restoration 
 to their unforfeited rights. This result, in the face of a 
 thousand obstacles, is due, under God, to the persevering 
 fidelity of Messrs Leavitt, Tappan and Josselyn, and their le- 
 gal counsel, Messrs. J. Q,. Adams, Baldwin and Sedgwick. 
 We may be permitted to rejoice that our judiciary still stands 
 erect, uncorrupted by the smiles, unmoved by the frowns of 
 southern despots. These captives, after receiving a suitable 
 education, will doubtless be restored to their native land, ac- 
 companied by the messengers of Christianity and civilization, 
 to impart the gospel with its attendant blessings to their 
 countrymen. The freedom of these captives is the first jm- 
 dicial triumph of liberty over slavery, since the Missouri 
 compromise, as the successful effort to repel Texas from the 
 Union, was the first legislative victory in our national coun- 
 cils. 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 
 The agitation of the question in Kentucky in connection 
 with the effort to revive the slave trade between that and oth- 
 er States, is regarded as having settled the question of speedy 
 abolition in that noble State. 
 
 Sliddlesex, fourfold. In New Iliimpshire, from Nov. to April, from 111 
 to 1628. In Kenneliec £)istrjf-t, Me., from jilioul CO to 353. In Ver- 
 mont, from 319 to 11S2. And in oilier elections, in the sunie propor- 
 tions. At a "iniilar riile of increase, James (!. Birney would be chosen 
 president at an early day, by the vote of all the States of the Union. 
 
52 
 
 INDIA COTTON, BEET SUGAR, SILK, TOBACCO, CORN LAWS. 
 
 No proposition is more demonstrably trne, than that slave 
 labor cannot compete with free labor, on equal terms, in 
 the production of the same articles. Free labor is always 
 one-third, and generally twice as profitable as slave labor. 
 And in respect of all the great staples produced by slave la- 
 bor, this proposition is about to be worked out on a great 
 scale. 
 
 England is beginning to employ her capital, on a great 
 scale, in the production of free labor cotton, on the plains 
 of India, from whence she can supply all Europe with cot- 
 ton, at a lower rate than it can possibly be raised by slave 
 labor. Slave labor cotton pays no profit at 8 cents per pound, 
 average price, in the Liverpool and Havre markets. India 
 cotton, of equally good staple, will pay a profit at 6 cents, 
 average price. In a few years England will need no cotton 
 from the United States ! What will the planters do? Be- 
 sides, the amount of cotton grown in the West Indies, South 
 America, around the shores of the Mediterranean and else- 
 where, is rapidly increasing. Free labor beet sugar, too, is 
 constantly superseding slave grown cane sugar. In a few years 
 the free States will need no sugar from the South. 
 
 And the free tobacco of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Mich- 
 igan and Missouri, already seriously embarrasses the tobacco 
 grower on the old worn out, slavery cursed soils of Mary- 
 land, Virginia and Middle Kentucky. 
 
 And the grain of the great Northwest, is crying out 
 for a market, in tones which will be heard. Already the 
 States of New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
 Wisconsin and Iowa, produce a large surplus of wheat and 
 corn, for which there is, and can be no domestic market 
 found, at remunerating prices; while the half-starved ope- 
 ratives of England, and even the manufacturing interests, 
 are striving, with evident success, to secure the overthrow 
 of their corn laws, and other portions of their tariflf, by 
 which the agricultural and other products of our free 
 States, are excluded from the markets of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. And when free labor once finds an open market 
 there, and we are no longer dependent upon cotton, and 
 other products of slavery, to pay for our imports, slave labor 
 will cease to be profitable, and the free North no longer 
 subjected to the control of slavery, in respect to its foreign 
 and domestic exchanges, will be freed from those fluctuations 
 
53 
 
 m its business, now so common and so injurious, and her 
 prosperity will be as unexampled as her institutions are free, 
 and her people enlightened. 
 
 THE FUTURE. 
 
 It requires no prophet's vision, therefore, to show us that 
 the days of slavery are numbered. Multitudes of the re- 
 flecting and business men around us begin to understand the 
 fact tliat slavery is an enormous tax upon the free States. — 
 That when a community like Massachusetts, where one-half 
 the total population do the labor of an able bodied man, aid- 
 ed by machinery, too, adds less than six per cent, per annum 
 to its capital, the slaveholding States, where less than one- 
 quarter of the people labor for the subsistence of the whole, 
 must be, in the long run, not only a poor, but a pcntpcr com- 
 niunity, ever wasting its capital stock. That this is the case 
 at the present moment with all the cotton Slates, no well in- 
 formed man can doubt. If those States were compelled to pay 
 their just debts, more than one-half of all the real and personal 
 property of Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida 
 and South Carolina, would be transferred to northern and for- 
 eign hands. Indeed, so strong is the conviction of this truth, 
 that in tlie indebted States it is almost impossible to collect 
 debts at all. The immense but indirect losses to the North 
 by the slave trade, and by the dependence of our exchanges 
 on cotton, are fast opening men's eyes to their true interests 
 in this matter. The recent developments in regard to the 
 Penn. U. S. Bank have shown some, at least, of our financiers 
 that the North }mif:t pay nil the cost and reap none of the 
 profit of an attempt to maintain an uniform currency and par 
 exchanges between the rich North and the bankrupt and 
 spendthrift South. The North alone must furnish the capi- 
 tal for such a process; (whether it be done by a bank or oth- 
 erwise ;) the Jiorthcr/i profits of the business must be absorbed 
 by southern losses ; the North must pay for the good currency 
 it furnishes to the South. And, in short, to use the language 
 of some leading bankers of our city, we " must choose be- 
 tween selling goods to the South and getting no pay, and 
 lending them the monev to pay with, and thcji losing the 
 loan." 
 
 The results of the recent census, showing the relative de- 
 cline in p )vver, population, and resources of the slave, as 
 compared with the free States, have already alarmed and 
 mortified the defenders of slavery, and encouraged many a 
 
54 
 
 timid northerner who feared to encounter those who held so 
 nearly the balance of political power in the nation. At the 
 next election for president, the free States will cast 185 votes, 
 and the slavrp 'Hes only 118 at the most ; leaving a northern 
 majority of 6^. The doom of slavery is sealed the moment 
 the free North knows her strength. The victims of the in- 
 ternal slave trade, from 1830 to 1840, as shown by the cen- 
 sus, were not less than 300,000. The waste of life under the 
 system, could not be less than 2!)0,000, or 8 percent., as de- 
 duced from the same source. Humanity and justice will not 
 sleep over these things ten years longer, unless God has in- 
 deed given us over to the doom of Tyre and Babylon. 
 
 And then the more vigorous action of the religious classes 
 of society against slavery, shows tliat the moral and religious 
 influences which will give vigor and direction to the impulses 
 of interest, will not be wantino'. The religious world is 
 not likely again to sleep over it. 
 
 OUR PLANS. 
 
 Our course, then, is onward, onward to certain and speedy 
 triumph. God lives, and our cause shall live also. Christ 
 reigns till he hath put all the enemies of truth and righteous- 
 ness under his feet, and his throne is pledged to give " deliv- 
 erance to the captives," and break the oppressor's rod in 
 ])ieces. What we need hereafter is a vigorous and constant 
 use of the press, and such a limited amount of judicious 
 agencies as will aid in the various departments of church and 
 political action, while we do not assume the burden of either. 
 For this our friends should promptly furnish the means, and 
 with them offer up their united and fervent prayers to Al- 
 mighty God that he would crown our labors with abundant 
 success. 
 
 The death of our former associates in this work should 
 admonish us to be diligent in our efforts. One of our former 
 Vice Presidents, Col. Roger Leavitt, of Charlemont, and an 
 ofiicer of the auxiliary, the venerable Dr. Emmons of Frank- 
 lin, one of the earliest friends of the slave in our country, 
 and others who were faithlul to his interests, have been call- 
 ed " up higher," leaving ns to toil on, looking up to the 
 God and Saviour, into whose presence they have entered, for 
 wisdom and strength to guide and nerve us in our work. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MASSACHU- 
 SETTS ABOLITION SOCIETY. 
 
 The Society met for tlie clioice of officers and the trans- 
 action of otiier business, at Tremont Chapel, corner of Tre- 
 mont and Broniheld streets, on Tuesda3', May 25th, at 3 
 o'clock, P. M. 
 
 In the absence of the president, Wm. B. Dodge, of Salem, 
 the 1st vice president, took tlie chair, when the meeting was 
 opened with prayer by Rev. James T. Woodbury, of Acton. 
 
 Gentlemen from other States were invited to participate in 
 the proceedings of the meeting. 
 
 Committees were appointed to nominate officers for the 
 ensuing year ; to take the roll ; and to prepare business for 
 the meeting. 
 
 The financini affairs of the society were then taken up, 
 and the Gen. Fin. Agent made a full exhibit of the financial 
 condition of the society. 
 
 The whole amount received into the treasury the past year 
 is $9,959 70; amount paid out, $9,913 00, leaving a balance 
 of $46 70. Notes and bills payable, (e.xclusive of balances 
 due agents, and including the debt of last year, nearly 
 $3000,) $4,340 33. He further stated that, at a meeting of 
 the Board of jManagers in the forenoon, all this subject was 
 discussed, and it was tliought best to recommend that four 
 thousand dollars be raised lor the liquidation of the debts of 
 the society. 
 
 After a full discussion it was unanimously Voted, That a 
 subscription paper be now opened for the purpose of paying 
 off the debts of the society, and that four thousand dollars be 
 raised immediately ; whereupon §1, 3*25 were subscribed by 
 those present. 
 
56 
 
 The nominating committee reported, which report was 
 accepted and adopted as follows. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 President. — Samuel Osgood, D. D., Springfield. 
 
 Vice Presidents. — Essex, William B. Dodge, Salem ; Mid- 
 dlesex, William North, Lowell; Suffolk, Charles Tappan, 
 Boston; Worcester, N., J. W. Cross, W^ Boylston ; Wor- 
 cester, S., T. W. Ward, Shrewsbury ; Franklin, Jasper Be- 
 ment, Ashfieid ; Hampden, Abel Bliss, Wilbraham ; Hamp- 
 shire, J. P. Williston, Northampton ; Berkshire, G. W. 
 Sterling, G. Barrinwton ; Norfolk, Appleton Howe, Wey- 
 mouth ; Bristol, G. W. Johnson, Easton ; Plymonlh, Morton 
 Eddy, Bridgewater ; Dukes, Elihu P. Norton, Edgartown ; 
 Barnstable, Zenas D. Bassett, Barnstable. 
 
 Cor. iScc. — Elizur Wright, Jr., Boston. 
 
 Rec. Sec. and Treasurer. — J. W. Alden, Cambridgeport. 
 
 Auditor. — B. H. Barnes, Chelsea. 
 
 Board of Managers. — Caleb Swan, Easton ; C. T. Tor- 
 rey, Boston ; Joel Hnyden, Hayderiville ; Chaunoy Chapin, 
 Springfield ; Ingalls Kittredge, Beverly ; Preston Pond, 
 Wrentham ; Jacob Ide, Medway ; Cyrus P. Grosvenor, 
 Worcester: James Porter, Boston; Thomas Gould, Boston. 
 
 Rev. A. A. Phelps, Cor. Sec, read the annual report in 
 part, when the society adjourned till the next njorning, at 8 
 o'clock. At the hour of adjournment the remainder of the 
 report was read by Rov. C. T. Torrey, and the report, as 
 a whole, adopted. 
 
 PUBLIC ANxVIVF.RSARY MEETING, WEDNESDAY, 3 o'ci.OCK, P. M. 
 
 The anniversary meeting was holden in the Marlboro' 
 Chapel, on Wednesday, 2(ilh inst., at 3 o'clock, P. M., W. 
 B. Dodge, of Salem, in the cliair. The Throne of Grace 
 was addressed by Rev. J. C. Webster, of Hopkinlon, after 
 which abstracts froui the animal report were read by Messrs. 
 A. A. Phelps and C. T. Torrey. 
 
 The following resolutions were then presented by C. W. 
 Denison, on behalf of the Business Committee, and ably and 
 
 loquently sustained by Rev. Elon Galusha, of Perry, N. Y., 
 
 nd Rev. Luther Lee, of Lowell. 
 
 1. i? eoived. That our thanks are due to Almiplity God for tlie bless- 
 ing hat, under rircnristniirps of ppculiar trial, he has bestowed on our 
 labors as a society, duriri" the past year. 
 
 2. Jiesolccd, ill the iarguage of John Wesley, that we are as much 
 as ever convinced that American slavery is the vilest that ever saw the 
 
57 
 
 sun, and also, in the language of Hon. Cassias M. Clay, of Kentucky, 
 that it is " evil morally, evil intelleclually, evil politically, evil pecunia- 
 rily; only evil, and that continually." 
 
 3. Resolved, That we are strengthened in our convictions by the ex- 
 perience of the past year, as shown in the progress of the British W. I. 
 islands, of the duty, profitableness, and safety of immediate emancipa- 
 tion. 
 
 4. Whereas, The Federal Government have unconstitutionally legal- 
 ized slavery in the District of Columbia; and 
 
 Whereas, Through the influences of the slave power, it has unjustly 
 interfered in behalf of slavery, thereby squandering large sums (amount- 
 ing to about forty millions of dollars) in support of that unchristian and 
 disgraceful institution, therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That it is the duty of the friends of the master and the 
 slave, as Christians, as patriots, and as men, to meet this legalized polit- 
 ical evil by organized political action. 
 
 5. Resolved, That the slaveholder, though found in the Christian 
 church, or professing to be a minister of the gospel, is, notwithstanding, 
 in the practice of heinous sin, and that the fellowship of the churches at 
 the North, when extended to the slaveholder, is a fellowship with known 
 and acknowledged sin; and that withholding fellowship from such, after 
 suitable gospel labor, is withdrawing the sanction of the church from 
 heinous sin; and that, therefore, the sooner such snnelion is withdrawn, 
 in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the better it will be for the church, 
 the cause of emancipation, and the slaveholder himself 
 
 6. Resolved, That that is a sickly benevolence which does not sym- 
 pathize and act in behalf of suffering humanity every where and among 
 all men. 
 
 7. Resolved, That no reason exists in the nature of man, in the prej- 
 udices of the white community, or in the condition, prospects, or char- 
 acter of our colored brethren, for continuing the effort to " colonize 
 them in Africa or elsewhere." 
 
 8. Resolved, That the colonization of our colored population tends 
 to impoverish our country by abstracting its laborers — the very basis of 
 its wealth and prosperity — and to injure the moral and social condition 
 of whatever country they may be thrown upon, by importing the vices 
 of civilization without a sufficient degree of education and religious 
 character. 
 
 9. Resolved, That past experience, present circumstances, and future 
 prospects, conspire to confirm us in the belielf of the soundness of our 
 principles, the practicability of our measures, and the final triumph of 
 the anti-slavery cause in this land and throughout the world. 
 
 The Rev. Hiram Cummings, of Duxbury, an agent of the 
 society, made a brief statement touching the manner in 
 which the present debt was created, the faithful discharge of 
 the arduous duties of the Executive Committee the past year, 
 the duty of their constituents to relieve their committee at 
 once of such a burden, and their ability and willingness to 
 do so, and concluded by reading the several amounts sub- 
 scribed the day before. 
 
 Slips of paper were then circulated for pledges, and a 
 
58 
 
 collection taken up; during which the Rev. Nathaniel Col- 
 ver, of Boston, addressed the audience in his usual animated 
 and thrilling manner. The contributions and pledges of the 
 previous day were swelled to §1,885 30. 
 
 The following resolution was then presented and eloquent- 
 ly sustained by the Rev. Henry H. Garnett, of Troy, N. Y. 
 
 Resolved, That the cause of genuine abolitionism is destined ulti- 
 mately to triumph universally, inasmuch as it has for its foundation 
 love towards mankind, reason and liberty. 
 
 The speeches throughout were listened to with much ap- 
 parent interest by a large and respectable audience, which 
 continued to increase from the beginning. 
 
 The " Liberty Banner," presented by the Mass. Female 
 Emancipation Society, and won by the anti-slavery voters of 
 Berkley, was then exhibited by Mr. Torrey, of Boston ; after 
 which the meeting was closed with prayer by Rev. Elon 
 Galusha, of Perry, N. Y. 
 
 Wm. B. Dodge, Pres. j^ro. tern. 
 
 J. W. Alden, Rcc. Sec. 
 
 At a meeting of Managers, Wednesday, 9 o'clock, A. M., 
 the following gentlemen were elected the Executive Com- 
 mittee for the year. 
 
 Josiah Brackett, Nathaniel Colver,D. S. King, E. Wright, 
 Jr., H. M. Chamberlain, John E. Fuller, Thomas Gould, 
 John Gove, Charles Tappan, B. H. Barnes, Nathaniel Rod- 
 gers, Timothy Gilbert, J. C. Beman, C. T. Torrey, S. G. 
 Shipley, Oliver Smith. 
 
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