PENNSYLVANIA has advanced to our principles just in proportion to the labor that has been bestowed, by means of lectures and publications in enlightening her population as to our objects, and the evils and dangers impending over the whole country, from southern slavery. The act of her late Convention, in depriving a large number of their own const.i.tuents (the colored people) of the elective franchise, heretofore possessed by them without any allegation of its abuse on their part, would seem to prove an unpropitious state of public sentiment. We would neither deny, nor elude, the force of such evidence. But when this measure of the convention is brought out and unfolded in its true light--shown to be a party measure to bring succor from the south--a mere following in the wake of North Carolina and Tennessee, who led the way, in their _new_ const.i.tutions, to this violation of the rights of their colored citizens, that they might the more firmly compact the wrongs of the enslaved--a pernicious, a profitless violation of great principles--a vulgar defiance of the advancing spirit of humanity and justice--a relapse into the by-gone darkness of a barbarous age--we apprehend from it no serious detriment to our cause.
OHIO has been well advanced. In a short time, she will be found among the most prominent of the states on the right side in the contest now going on between the spirit of liberty embodied in the free inst.i.tutions of the north, and the spirit of slavery pervading the south. Her Const.i.tution publishes the most honorable reprobation of slavery of any other in the Union. In providing for its own revision or amendment, it declares, that _no alteration of it shall ever take place, so as to introduce slavery or involuntary servitude into the state_. Her Supreme court is intelligent and firm. It has lately decided, virtually, against the const.i.tutionality of an act of the Legislature, made, in effect, to favor southern slavery by the persecution of the colored people within her bounds. She has, already, abolitionists enough to turn the scale in her elections, and an abundance of excellent material for augmenting the number.
In INDIANA but little has been done, except by the diffusion of our publications. But even with these appliances, several auxiliary societies have been organized.[A]
[Footnote A: The first Legislative movement against the annexation of Texas to the Union, was made, it is believed, in Indiana. So early as December, 1836, a joint resolution pa.s.sed its second reading in one or both branches of the Legislature. How it was ultimately disposed of, is not known.]
In MICHIGAN, the leaven of abolitionists pervades the whole population.
The cause is well sustained by a high order of talent; and we trust soon to see the influence of it in all her public acts.
In ILLINOIS, the murder of Mr. Lovejoy has multiplied and confirmed abolitionists, and led to the formation of many societies, which, in all probability, would not have been formed so soon, had not that event taken place.
I am not possessed of sufficient data for stating, with precision, what proportion the abolitionists bear in the population of the Northern and Middle non-slaveholding states respectively. Within the last ten months, I have travelled extensively in both these geographical divisions. I have had whatever advantage this, a.s.sisted by a strong interest in the general cause, and abundant conversations with the best informed abolitionists, could give, for making a fair estimate of their numbers.
In the Northern states I should say, _they are one in ten_--in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, _one in twenty_--of the whole adult population. That the abolitionists have multiplied, and that they are still multiplying rapidly, no one acquainted with the smallness of their numbers at their first organization a few years ago, and who has kept his eyes about him since, need ask. That they have not, thus far, been more successful, is owing to the vastness of the undertaking, and the difficulties with which they have had to contend, from comparatively limited means, for presenting their measures and objects, with the proper developments and explanations, to the great ma.s.s of the popular mind. The progress of their principles, under the same amount of intelligence in presenting them, and where no peculiar causes of prejudice exist in the minds of the hearers, is generally proportioned to the degree of religious and intellectual worth prevailing in the different sections of the country where the subject is introduced. I know no instance, in which any one notoriously profane or intemperate, or licentious, or of openly irreligious _practice_, has professed, cordially to have received our principles.
"6. _What is the object your a.s.sociations aim at? Does it extend to abolition of slavery only in the District of Columbia, or in the whole slave country_?"
ANSWER.--This question is fully answered in the second Article of the Const.i.tution of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which is in these words:--
"The object of this society is the entire abolition of slavery in the United States. While it admits that each state, in which slavery exists, has, by the Const.i.tution of the United States, the exclusive right to _legislate_ in regard to its abolition in said state, it shall aim to convince all our fellow-citizens, by arguments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slaveholding is a heinous crime in the sight of G.o.d, and that the duty, safety, and best interests of all concerned require its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The society will also endeavor, in a const.i.tutional way, to influence Congress to put an end to the domestic slave-trade, and to abolish slavery in all those portions of our common country which come under its control, especially in the District of Columbia; and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any state that may hereafter be admitted to the Union."
Other objects, accompanied by a pledge of peace, are stated in the third article of the Const.i.tution,--
"This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral, and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice,--that thus they may, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites of civil and religious privileges; but this Society will never in any way, countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by resorting to physical force."
"7. _By what means and by what power do you propose to carry your views into effect_?"
ANSWER.--Our "means" are the Truth,--the "Power" under whose guidance we propose to carry our views into effect, is, the Almighty. Confiding in these means, when directed by the spirit and wisdom of Him, who has so made them as to act on the hearts of men, and so const.i.tuted the hearts of then as to be affected by them, we expect, 1. To bring the CHURCH of this country to repentance for the sin of OPPRESSION. Not only the Southern portion of it that has been the oppressor--but the Northern, that has stood by, consenting, for half a century, to the wrong. 2. To bring our countrymen to see, that for a nation to persist in injustice is, but to rush on its own ruin; that to do justice is the highest expediency--to love mercy its n.o.blest ornament. In other countries, slavery has sometimes yielded to fortuitous circ.u.mstances, or been extinguished by physical force. _We_ strive to win for truth the victory over error, and on the broken fragments of slavery to rear for her a temple, that shall reach to the heavens, and toward which all nations shall worship. It has been said, that the slaveholders of the South will not yield, nor hearken to the influence of the truth on this subject. We believe it not--nor give we entertainment to the slander that such an unworthy defence of them implies. We believe them _men_,--that they have understandings that arguments will convince--consciences to which the appeals of justice and mercy will not be made in vain. If our principles be true--our arguments right--if slaveholders be men--and G.o.d have not delivered over our guilty country to the retributions of the oppressor, not only of the STRANGER but of the NATIVE--our success is certain.
"8. _What has been for three years past, the annual income of your societies? And how has it been raised?_"
ANSWER.--The annual income of the societies at large, it would be impossible to ascertain. The total receipts of this society, for the year ending 9th of May, 1835--leaving out odd numbers--was $10,000; for the year ending 9th of May, 1837, $25,000; and for the year ending 11th of May, 1836, $38,000. From the last date, up to this--not quite ten months--there has been paid into the treasury the sum of $36,000.[A]
These sums are independent of what is raised by state and auxiliary societies, for expenditure within their own particular bounds, and for their own particular exigencies. Also, of the sums paid in subscriptions for the support of newspapers, and for the printing (by auxiliaries,) of periodicals, pamphlets, and essays, either for sale at low prices, or for gratuitous distribution. The moneys contributed in these various modes would make an aggregate greater, perhaps, than is paid into the treasury of any one of the Benevolent societies of the country. Most of the wealthy contributors of former years suffered so severely in the money-pressure of this, that they have been unable to contribute much to our funds. This has made it necessary to call for aid on the great body of abolitionists--persons, generally, in moderate circ.u.mstances. They have well responded to the call, considering the hardness of the times.
To show you the extremes that meet at our treasury,--General Sewall, of Maine, a revolutionary officer, eighty-five years old--William Philbrick, a little boy near Boston, not four years old--and a colored woman, who makes her subsistence by selling apples in the streets in this city, lately sent in their respective sums to a.s.sist in promoting the emanc.i.p.ation of the "poor slave."
[Footnote A: The report for May states the sum received during the previous year at $44,000.]
All contributions of whatever kind are _voluntary_.
"9. _In what way, and to what purposes do you apply these funds!_"
ANSWER.--They are used in sustaining the society"s office in this city--in paying lecturers and agents of various kinds--in upholding the press--in printing books, pamphlets, tracts, &c, containing expositions of our principles--accounts of our progress--refutations of objections--and disquisitions on points, scriptural, const.i.tutional, political, legal, economical, as they chance to arise and become important. In this office three secretaries are employed in different departments of duty; one editor; one publishing agent, with an a.s.sistant, and two or three young men and boys, for folding, directing, and despatching papers, executing errands, &c. The business of the society has increased so much of late, as to make it necessary, in order to ensure the proper despatch of it, to employ additional clerks for the particular exigency. Last year, the society had in its service about sixty "permanent agents." This year, the number is considerably diminished. The deficiency has been more than made up by creating a large number of "Local" agents--so called, from the fact, that being generally Professional men, lawyers or physicians in good practice, or Ministers with congregations, they are confined, for the most part, to their respective neighborhoods. Some of the best minds in our country are thus engaged. Their labors have not only been eminently successful, but have been rendered at but small charge to the society; they receiving only their travelling expenses, whilst employed in lecturing and forming societies. In the case of a minister, there is the additional expense of supplying his pulpit while absent on the business of his agency, However, in many instances, these agents, being in easy circ.u.mstances, make no charge, even for their expenses.
In making appointments, the executive committee have no regard to party discrimination. This will be fully understood, when it is stated, that on a late occasion, two of our local agents were the candidates of their respective political parties for the office of Secretary of State for the state of Vermont.
It ought to be stated here, that two of the most effective advocates of the anti-slavery cause are females--the Misses Grimke--natives of South Carolina--brought up in the midst of the usages of slavery--most intelligently acquainted with the merits of the system, and qualified, in an eminent degree, to communicate their views to others in public addresses. They are not only the advocates of the slave at their own charge, but they actually contribute to the funds of the societies. So successfully have they recommended the cause of emanc.i.p.ation to the crowds that attended their lectures during the last year, that they were permitted on three several occasions publicly to address the joint committee (on slavery) of the Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature, now in session, on the interesting matters that occupy their attention.
"10. _How many printing presses and periodical publications have you?_"
ANSWER.--We own no press. Our publications are all printed by contract.
The EMANc.i.p.aTOR and HUMAN RIGHTS are the organs of the Executive Committee. The first (which you have seen,) is a large sheet, is published weekly, and employs almost exclusively the time of the gentleman who edits it. Human Rights is a monthly sheet of smaller size, and is edited by one of the secretaries. The increasing interest that is fast manifesting itself in the cause of emanc.i.p.ation and its kindred subjects will, in all probability, before long, call for the more frequent publication of one or both of these papers.--The ANTI-SLAVERY MAGAZINE, a quarterly, was commenced in October, 1835, and continued through two years. It has been intermitted, only to make the necessary arrangements for issuing it on a more extended scale.--It is proposed to give it size enough to admit the amplest discussions that we or our opponents may desire, and to give _them_ a full share of its room--in fine, to make it, in form and merit, what the importance of the subject calls for. I send you a copy of the Prospectus for the new series.--The ANTI-SLAVERY RECORD, published for three years as a monthly, has been discontinued _as such_, and it will be issued hereafter, only as occasion may require:--THE SLAVE"S FRIEND, a small monthly tract, of neat appearance, intended princ.i.p.ally for children and young persons, has been issued for several years. It is replete with facts relating to slavery, and with accounts of the hair-breadth escapes of slaves from their masters and pursuers that rarely fail to impart the most thrilling interest to its little readers.--Besides these, there is the ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER, in which are published, as the times call for them, our larger essays partaking of a controversial character, such as Smith"s reply to the Rev. Mr. Smylie--Grimke"s letter and "Wythe." By turning to page 32 of our Fourth Report (included in your order for books, &c,) you will find, that in the year ending 11th May, the issues from the press were--bound volumes, 7,877--Tracts and Pamphlets, 47,250--Circulars, &c, 4,100--Prints, 10,490--Anti-Slavery Magazine, 9000--Slave"s Friend, 131,050--Human Rights, 189,400--Emanc.i.p.ator, 217,000. These are the issues of the American Anti-Slavery Society, from their office in this city. Other publications of similar character are issued by State Societies or individuals--the LIBERATOR, in Boston; HERALD OF FREEDOM, in Concord, N.H.; ZION"S WATCHMAN and the COLORED AMERICAN in this city. The latter is conducted in the editorial, and other departments, by colored citizens. You can judge of its character, by a few numbers that I send to you. Then, there is the FRIEND of MAN, in Utica, in this state. The NATIONAL ENQUIRER, in Philadelphia;[A] the CHRISTIAN WITNESS, in Pittsburgh; the PHILANTHROPIST, in Cincinnati.--All these are sustained by the friends, and devoted almost exclusively to the cause, of emanc.i.p.ation. Many of the Religious journals that do not make emanc.i.p.ation their main object have adopted the sentiments of abolitionists, and aid in promoting them. The Alton Observer, edited by the late Mr. Lovejoy, was one of these.
[Footnote A: The NATIONAL ENQUIRER, edited by Benjamin Lundy, has been converted into the PENNSYLVANIA FREEMAN, edited by John G. Whittier. Mr.
Lundy proposes to issue the GENIUS OF UNIVERSAL EMANc.i.p.aTION, in Illinois.]
From the data I have, I set down the newspapers, as cla.s.sed above, at upwards of one hundred. Here it may also be stated, that the presses which print the abolition journals above named, throw off besides, a great variety of other anti-slavery matter, in the form of books, pamphlets, single sheets, &c, &c, and that, at many of the princ.i.p.al commercial points throughout the free states, DEPOSITORIES are established, at which our publications of every sort are kept for sale.
A large and fast increasing number of the Political journals of the country have become, within the last two years, if not the avowed supporters of our cause, well inclined to it. Formerly, it was a common thing for most of the leading _party_-papers, especially in the large cities, to speak of the abolitionists in terms signally disrespectful and offensive. Except in rare instances, and these, it is thought, only where they are largely subsidized by southern patronage, it is not so now. The desertions that are taking place from their ranks will, in a short time, render their position undesirable for any, who aspire to gain, or influence, or reputation in the North.
"11. _To what cla.s.s of persons do you address your publications--and are they addressed to the judgment, the imagination, or the feelings_?"
ANSWER.--They are intended for the great ma.s.s of intelligent mind, both in the free and in the slave states. They partake, of course, of the intellectual peculiarities of the different authors. Jay"s "INQUIRY" and Mrs. Child"s "APPEAL" abound in facts--are dispa.s.sionate, ingenious, argumentative. The "BIBLE AGAINST SLAVERY," by the most careful and laborious research, has struck from slavery the prop, which careless Annotators, (writing, unconscious of the influence, the prevailing system of slavery throughout the Christian world exercised on their own minds,) have admitted was furnished for it in the Scriptures. "Wythe" by a pains-taking and lucid adjustment of facts in the history of the Government, both before and after the adoption of the Const.i.tution, and with a rigor of logic, that cannot, it is thought, be successfully encountered, has put to flight forever with unbiased minds, every doubt as to the "Power of Congress over the District of Columbia."
There are among the abolitionists, Poets, and by the acknowledgment of their opponents, poets of no mean name too--who, as the use of poets is, do address themselves often--as John G. Whittier does _always_ --powerfully to the imagination and feelings of their readers.
Our publications cannot be cla.s.sed according to any particular style or quality of composition. They may characterized generally, as well suited to affect the public mind--to rouse into healthful activity the conscience of this nation, stupified, torpid, almost dead, in relation to HUMAN RIGHTS, the high theme of which they treat!
It has often been alleged, that our writings appeal to the worst pa.s.sions of the slaves, and that they are placed in their hands with a view to stir them to revolt. Neither charge has any foundation in truth to rest upon. The first finds no support in the tenor of the writings themselves; the last ought forever to be abandoned, in the absence of any single well authenticated instance of their having been conveyed by abolitionists to slaves, or of their having been even found in their possession. To instigate the slaves to revolt, as the means of obtaining their liberty, would prove a lack of wisdom and honesty that none would impute to abolitionists, except such as are unacquainted with their character. Revolt would be followed by the sure destruction, not only of all the slaves who might be concerned in it, but of mult.i.tudes of the innocent. Moreover, the abolitionists, as a cla.s.s, are religious--they favor peace, and stand pledged in their const.i.tution, before the country and heaven, to abide in peace, so far as a forcible vindication of the right of the slaves to their freedom is concerned. Further still, no small number of them deny the right of defence, either to individuals or nations, even when forcibly and wrongfully attacked. This disagreement among ourselves on this single point--of which our adversaries are by no means ignorant, as they often throw it reproachfully in our teeth--would forever prevent concert in any scheme that looked to instigating servile revolt. If there be, in all our ranks, one, who--personal danger out of the question--would excite the slaves to insurrection and ma.s.sacre, or who would not be swift to repeat the earliest attempt to concoct such an iniquity--I say, on my obligations as a man, he is unknown to me.
Yet it ought not to be matter of surprise to abolitionists, that the South should consider them "fanatics," "incendiaries," "cut-throats,"
and call them so too. The South has had their character reported to them by the North, by those who are their neighbors, who, it was supposed, knew, and would speak the truth, and the truth only, concerning them. It would, I apprehend, be unavailing for abolitionists now to enter on any formal vindication of their character from charges that can be so easily repeated after every refutation. False and fraudulent as they knew them to be, they must be content to live under them till the consummation of the work of Freedom shall prove to the master that they have been _his_ friends, as well as the friends of the slave. The mischief of these charges has fallen on the South--the malice is to be placed to the credit of the North.
"12. _Do you propagate your doctrines by any other means than oral and written discussions--for instance, by prints and pictures in manufactures--say of pocket-handkerchiefs, calicoes, &c? Pray, state the various modes?_"
ANSWER.--Two or three years ago, an abolitionist of this city procured to be manufactured, at his own charge, a small lot of children"s pocket-handkerchiefs, impressed with anti-slavery pictures and mottoes.
I have no recollection of having seen any of them but once. None such, I believe, are now to be found, or I would send you a sample. If any manufactures of the kinds mentioned, or others similar to theta, are in existence, they have been produced independently of the agency of this society. It is thought that none such exist, unless the following should be supposed to fall within the terms of the inquiry. Female abolitionists often unite in sewing societies. They meet together, usually once a week or fortnight, and labor through the afternoon, with their own hands, to furnish means for advancing the cause of the slave.
One of the company reads pa.s.sages from the Bible, or some religious book, whilst the others are engaged at their work. The articles they prepare, especially if they be of the "fancy" kind, are often ornamented with handsomely executed emblems, underwritten with appropriate mottoes.
The picture of a slave kneeling (such as you will see impressed on one of the sheets of this letter) and supplicating in the words, "AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER," is an example. The mottoes or sentences are, however, most generally selected from the Scriptures; either appealing to human sympathy in behalf of human suffering, or breathing forth G.o.d"s tender compa.s.sion for the oppressed, or proclaiming, in thunder tones, his avenging justice on the oppressor. A few quotations will show their general character:--
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor."
"Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and the needy; rid him out of the hand of the wicked."
"Open thy mouth for the dumb, plead the cause of the poor and needy."
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
"First, be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Again:--
"For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper."
"The Lord looseth the prisoners; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down; the Lord preserveth the strangers."