A letter to the editor, from “Leo”, from Philadelphia, indicates opposition to the Appeal, because he does not believe Walker wrote it, not because he is a man of color, but because “the matter brought forward in said pamphlet is the result of more reading than could have fallen to the lot of that man , and at the same time, have left so vulgar as he has been represented to me”….”he never could have read all the authors quoted in his book, and seen of what true greatness consisted….to say nothing of the most excellent criticisms upon the speeches of the most talented men of the age…” He then goes on to disparage the circulation of the pamphlet….”why cast this firebrand so injudiciously among the stubble Behold its injurious effects! …. I am opposed to the pamphlet …. Because I believe it to be at the bottom of the recent enactment of severe laws in the southern states…..”
Garrison in notes to above letter, reminds his readers that ‘we have repeatedly expressed our disapprobation of its (the pamphlet’s) general spirit. It contains , however, many valuable truths and seasonable warnings.’ …….Then he assures readers that he does not question the authorship of the pamphlet……”We are assured, by those who intimately knew him, that his Appeal was an exact transcript of his daily conversations; that, within the last four years, he was hurtfully indefatigable in his studies; that he was not ‘vulgar’, either in manners or language; and that he was a blameless professor of religion. The historical facts which he has collected were too familiar to have required extraordinary research. Besides the internal evidence of the pamphlet clearly substantiates its authorship.”
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