December 19, 1845
A letter from Henry Wright, in which he tells of the ever-active George Thompson going to Paris, in which Haughton commends the idea of disunion, and in which encouragement comes from Elizabeth Pease. Then he quotes from a letter from Thomas Clarkson, in which Clarkson says, “never mind wearying me. Consider what a glorious cause we have.” Wright reminds readers that Clarkson, is 86 years old and so blind that he worries his writing will not be legible, still “He is determined to die in the anti-slavery armor, on the battle-field, and in the hottest of the battle. God bless him. Kings and Queens and nobles sink into insignificance before him.”
November 21, 1845
A letter from Adams, Aug 19, in Quincy commending a proposed publication of a book on Tobacco. Adams recounts his previous addiction to tobacco, and that he has been free from that addiction for more than thirty years; he no longer feels its “stimulating power”. He urges all to try but for three months the experiment which he made. He would “turn every acre of tobacco into a wheat field.”
November 7, 1845
Here is a notice from “An Associationist”, telling of the named association, describing its purpose and its land, and its establishment four years ago. It is a “neighborhood of social families”, “desirous of retiring from the bustle and turmoil of the world”.
November 7, 1845
Here is a quotation from a recent message to the legislature of Tennessee by its Gov. Aaron Vail Brown. It praises the annexation of Texas in glowing terms and bright predictions for the future. In an introduction to the piece the editor says “the following profligate flourish about Texas and liberty, free institutions, and the temple of freedom ….it is more than patience can bear.”
November 7, 1845
Here is a quotation from a recent message to the legislature of Tennessee by its Gov. Aaron Vail Brown. It praises the annexation of Texas in glowing terms and bright predictions for the future. In an introduction to the piece the editor says “the following profligate flourish about Texas and liberty, free institutions, and the temple of freedom ….it is more than patience can bear.”
October 17, 1845
Under Refuge of Oppression, from the Pensacola Gazette, an unsigned article is very critical of Walker and the attempts of abolitionists in the north to characterize him as an idol because of his treatment as a stealer of slaves. He is labeled as “indolent”, “thriftless’, “useless member of society”, “wretched fanatic”, ….. It is claimed that he suffered the just punishment of the law, that he “went into jail in poor health, and came out as fat as a pig”. The end of the article addresses the abolitionists who now aid Walker: “If these misguided fanatics could but be made to understand how they have riveted and are daily riveting the chains of the slave — how their machinations have bridged his privileges, temporal and spiritual, they would surely pause in their insane efforts, to accomplish an object which every word of interference from them, but serves to render more distant and more hopeless.”
October 10, 1845
Here is a “Protest Against American Slavery By One Hundred and Seventy Unitarian Ministers” A strong statement against slavery includes a list of the names of the Ministers.
Sept 26, 1845
Citizens of St. Clair County, Illinois, pass a resolution, unanimously adopted, urging the President to purchase Cuba, “with the consent of the white people thereof”. “The slaveholders have only to claim that England has designs on Cuba, and the Northern Democracy will vote away fifty millions to obtain it. How many slave states would Cuba make? It would hardly be safe to get up a revolution there and annex it to the United States.” Item from the Kennebec Journal
Sept 19, 1845
Here is an account of how Kelley, after venturing to speak in a Quaker Meeting, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, having been cautioned several times, against speaking, was finally dragged out.
August 29, 1845
Under Refuge of Oppression, there is an item from the Barnstable (Democratic!) Patriot
The item is vitriolic in criticism of Jonathan Walker, and Mr. Loring Moody, of Harwich, who has accompanied Walker on a speaking tour. Of Walker: “…the legal punishment by which he so glorifies himself in by the exhibition of his Slave Stealers brand - do not exalt him in our estimation — nor do we think they entitle him to the extravagant sympathy in some places lavished upon him. He voluntarily transgressed the well known laws of the land in which he volunteered a residence. He knew the penalty of such transgressions, — he, with his knowledge, helped - we will not say induced - half a dozen slaves to run away from their legal masters……For this attempt to liberate, as he pretends — to steal, as the constituted authorities adjudge — these slaves, he was imprisoned and branded as he well knew the laws of that land provided he should be, if he was unsuccessful in his designs…..”
