January 5, 1855
“We enter upon our new volume with undiminished zeal, courage and hope – warmly proferring toall our friends and patrons the loving salutations and wishes of the New Year, thanking them for their generous cooperation, grateful for all the private assistance which has been rendered us, and relying on God to the end.”
January 5, 1855
An article from the N. Y. Evangelist tells of a ship, recently in the harbor, which was discovered to be “taking in boards and materials suited for laying a slave deck…a libel was filed against the vessel and cargo, and she is now in the custody of Mr. Hillyer, The United States Marshal.”
January 5, 1855
A Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, tells of the purchase of Burns by McDaniels, of North Carolina, and then appeals, “Anthony having many friends in Boston, cannot they raise a few hundred dollars for his restoration to his family and friends?….. Who will move in the matter?” Then the Transcript comments, “His Boston friends offered twelve hundred dollars for him, of which sum a United States Officer subscribed one hundred. Their letters are unanswered, their appeals unavailing….”
January 19, 1855
Notice of a meeting of the Society to be held in Worcester. Signed by Adin Ballou, here is an invitation to the meeting. It indicates that Garrison, the two Fosters, and Henry C. Wright will speak. “The few veteran Non-Resistants who still remain true to their standard, (being a precious few) will need no urging to be present. Discussion will focus on the great doctrine, Total Abstinence from Injurious Force.”
January 19, 1855
From the Boston Evening Transcript, the story of Jackson, an alleged fugitive, who had been in the city for eight weeks. A Capt Fox, pursues Jackson. Jackson was “taken in charge of, and in a short time was leaving, in the company of good friends, as rapidly as steam would allow, the city of Faneuil Hall, overshawdowed by Bunker’s monument.” Fox pursues him but “finds that a long distance intervenes between himself and his prey, and the hunt is up!”
February 9, 1855
Excerpts from Henry Ward Beecher’s lecture at Broadway Tabernacle (N.Y.)
“The struggle between the North and the South is not one of sections, and of parties, but of Principles — of principles that cannot coalesce, nor compromise; that must hate each other, and contend, until the one shall drive the other out.” ….the speech comments on the need for a restructuring of the political parties ….he commends the Governor, who has recommended that new-comers to the country go through a period of probation before they become citizens…. “But I ask you, fellow citizens, whether the simple accident of birth is a basis broad enough for a permanent National party? Is it a principle, even? Is it a mere fact?…..Ought we not to look a little at what a man is, after he is born, as well as at the place where? Especially when we remember that Arnold was born in Connecticut, and LaFayette in France. …If then a party is American, ought it not to be because it represents those principles which are fundamental to American Institutions, and to American policy?…..Which of these two theories, the Northern or Southern, is the American? The North has one theory, the South another; which of them is to be called the American idea? .. that which declares all men free, or that which declares the superior races free, and the inferior, slaves?…..”
February 9, 1855
A letter to Garrison, comes from “R.T.”, in Philadelphia. It comments on the oratorical power of Douglass, and cites parts of the speech in which Douglass says that some Abolitionists “claim that the principles which underlie the Anti-Slavery movement were discovered by Mr. Garrison, and his coadjutors.” The writer says that Douglass spent part of this three hour speech denouncing the lie the claim. The writer indicates that he had to leave the meeting before the speech was concluded, “But I am told, by one who listened to the whole of it, that throughout he (Douglass) sustained his reputation as an ingenious traducer and base calumniator. He repeated all the stale cant and twaddle about the Anti-Sabbath and Anti-Bible character of Mr. Garrison and his friends, and intimated that, under the garb of Humanity, they were endeavoring to uproot Christianity! –thus appealing to the lowest sectarian prejudices of his audience He asserted ‘that the old basis of Anti-Slavery action, that the slave was a man and a brother, and that we should feel for him as bound with him, was laid aside for political catchwords, such as “Down with the Constitution,” and “No Union with Slaveholders!”
The Editor places a pointed finger at this response: “A colored friend, of great respectability in Philadelphia, referring to Mr. Douglass’s venomous lectures in that city, says, ‘Allow me to say, that the disaffected to our cause, and its advocates, in Philadelphia, are a mere fraction. The respect, gratitude and confidence of the great body of our people are with you. How could it be otherwise?’”
February 23, 1855
A notice that George W. Meeker, Esq., has resigned his office as U. S. Commissioner, in Chicago, “owing to repugnance to acting under the Fugitive Slave Law”
February 23, 1855
Craft writes to Garrison, from London. “I was pleased to see that it required military force to return poor Burns into slavery. I think the law would soon become a dead letter, if every fugitive would resolve to remain free, or return to slavery only in his coffin.”
March 2, 1855
Here is the text of a speech by Senator Houston, at Tremont Temple, in which he defends slavery. “….It is necessity that produces slavery, it is convenience, it is profit that creates slavery; though often owners are not so much benefited by it as it is thought……”