the propriety and wisdom of our measures, we leave you to judge
whether abolitionists deserve to be out-lawed in their own country;
to be loaded with abuse and contumely; to be denied a right, conceded
to all other decent men, of advocating their cause in our public
halls and churches; and to be left, unprotected, to the violence of
ill-minded men? We beg you also to consider, how terrific would be
the prospects of our country, were we in obedience to popular clamor,
to disband our societies, and retire from the field. Who would ever
again venture to raise his voice in behalf of the down-trodden
slave? Should any one have the temerity to do it, how soon would he
be overwhelmed by the violence of the pro-slavery party, encouraged
by past success, and maddened by the remembrance of the formidable
array of talent, wealth, and piety, which they once encountered. We
verily believe, that the peaceable abolition of Slavery depends,
under God, on our perseverance. Moral means must continue to be used
by us until they issue in success, or slavery will terminate in a
bloody revolution. We anticipate such an event, as a possibility,
with painful emotions; and feel disposed to look, in the use of all
lawful means, to that God, who has promised to do for us, exceeding
abundantly above all that we can ask or think, that so dire a
catastrophe may be averted. We earnestly solicit your co-operation.
We might have said much more to correct misapprehensions, refute
calumnies, and fortify our positions; but our limits forbid it. We
may have said some things, which you will disapprove; for we have
ingenuously confessed our most obnoxious sentiments; but if you will
give us credit for sincerity and weigh our arguments, we shall expect
to stand better in your opinion, than our calumniators would have us.
With much respect,
} PHILO PRATT,
In behalf of the Meriden } WALTER WEBB,
Anti-Slavery Society, } ISAAC I. TIBBALS.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] As our enterprise is not sectarian but national and catholic,
it is the highest pitch of arrogance for any sect to denounce this
measure as a violation of ecclesiastical order. Religious freedom
demands that all such claims should be at once and steadfastly
resisted.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 9: ‘fraud and villany’ replaced by ‘fraud and villainy’.
Pg 11: ‘the emancipatton of’ replaced by ‘the emancipation of’.
Pg 11: ‘they abvocate this’ replaced by ‘they advocate this’.
Pg 17: ‘until onr objects’ replaced by ‘until our objects’.
Pg 17: ‘is his _chnrch_’ replaced by ‘is his _church_’.
Pg 18: ‘_intinerant_ lecturers’ replaced by ‘_itinerant_ lecturers’.
Pg 21: ‘Their is also’ replaced by ‘There is also’.
Pg 22: ‘and enterprize; the’ replaced by ‘and enterprise; the’.
Pg 25: ‘the constistutional’ replaced by ‘the constitutional’.
Pg 26: ‘not lettting him’ replaced by ‘not letting him’.
Pg 27: ‘for while slaves’ replaced by ‘for which slaves’.
Pg 30: ‘the best soeiety’ replaced by ‘the best society’.