January 7, 1853
As he begins the twenty-third volume of the paper, Garrison includes here one letter from a person who cancels his subscription, and two new subscriptions. One of the two is from Henry Ward Beecher. Beecher says he wants the paper in part, “because it is one of the few papers in which I can find a fair representation of the sentiments of those who do not agree, as well as a representation of the views of those who do agree with you.” The editor comments: “This tribute to the fairness and impartiality of The Liberator is certainly deserved; and when it ceases to be, may every subscriber drop the paper as unworthy of his patronage, and place its editor in the ranks of the unjust and cowardly!”
January 14, 1853
An article comments on the official organ of the Colonization Society, the African Repository, now in its twenty-ninth volume, and includes an excerpt from its current number. After the excerpt, here are some comments from the editor: “Of all the scoundrelisms, that is the most despicable which makes the complexion of a man the ground and justification of treating him like a dog; and it is the scoundrelism of the American Colonization Society, which not only ‘wages no war’ against the most vulgar and brutal prejudice ever known among mankind, but is ‘willing to let it remain as God has fixed it’! O, monstrous imputation! Its pretended concern for the civilization and evangelization of the barbarous tribes of Africa, while it consents to the degradation and enslavement of millions in our own land, is unsurpassed on the score of brazen effrontery. To say that it is impossible for the colored population ever to be elevated among us, is to declare that we are incorrigible in our villany — for it is nothing but that which retards the progress. To say that they who are unfit to live with us, and too debased ever to rise in the scale of improvement here, are just the missionaries wanted to extend civilization and Christianity in Africa, is to pour contempt upon the human understanding.”
January 21, 1853
Readers have called to their attention the second edition of Nell’s Services of Colored Americans in the Wars of 1776 and 1812. Notices are carried in the Practical Christian, the Boston Atlas, The Boston Herald, and the Boston Times, all included here. Part of the editor’s introduction includes thanks to his “highly esteemed colored friend, the author”, and also says: “Let the Abolitionists read it, to quicken their zeal in pleading for 3,000,000 of imbruted people, full of capabilities to be useful to themselves and their country, if they had one. Let those who have despised, and contemned, and trampled on ‘niggers,’ just read it, and blush for shame. Let all colored people be sure to read it, that they may know how to respect themselves, and act accordingly.”
January 21, 1853
A letter from I. Fisk, in Fall River, tells of a lecture by Sallie Holley, and speaks highly of her. There is also a letter from S.W. Wheeler, telling of a similar fine lecture by Holley, in Providence.
January 28, 1853
News comes from both Pennsylvania and Ohio of recent Anti-Slavery Fairs, with accounting of monies raised by each.
January 28, 1853
A letter comes from Monsieur Tourgueneff, with whom Garrison has been in communication. It bears news of conditions and prospects in Russia. He is a Russian Noble. “With him Freedom is a question of fundamental right as well as of national policy.”
February 11, 1853
A speech by Higginson, at Faneuil Hall, during the recent MASS annual meeting.
“… I should speak on agitation, and not of agitators…. agitation is destined to go on, whether you give the funds or not; but you can do much to accelerate it….It is not for us to control agitation; it is slavery which creates it, and not the Anti-Slavery Society. While slavery exists, the agitation will go on. Its foundations are laid deeper than any poor plans of ours. All history shows but one long agitation on the part of truth and right, opposed by one wrong or another, by one conservatism or another. …The work cannot stop with us….And the agitation must keep on. A moral evil needs a moral sentiment to overthrow it; and this only agitation can sustain….”
February 25, 1853
Parker Pillsbury writes to Garrison. He reports that there have been meetings in several towns, poorly attended, partly because of weather, but also for “want of interest”…..”This section of the State seems in a far more hopeful condition for moral agitation and renovation than ever before. We have been reminded of the times that tried men’s souls and sects ten years ago. We long to see the return of those days.”
March 11, 1853
“Shouts of thanksgiving at the termination of the administration of Millard Fillmore”, are accompanied by “loudest lamentations at the induction into the Presidential office of Franklin Pierce, whose boast is that he has never had a pulsation of his heart which did not beat in unison with the Slave Power…..”
April 1, 1853
An article under Refuge of Oppression includes the text of a law passed in Illinois, which severely restricts any mulatto or negro either coming into or being brought into the state. It is accompanied by selected articles from the Worcester Spy, (Illinois Slave State), The Hartford Republican (Barbarism, the Commonwealth, (Infernal Legislation), and the New York Evening Post, all condemning the law.
