DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT.--ORGANIZATION OF
ANTISLAVERY SOCIETIES.--ANTI-ABOLITION RIOTS.--JAY PUBLISHES HIS
"INQUIRY."
Chief-Justice Jay died at Bedford in 1828, and his son William occupied
his leisure during the following five years in preparing "The Life and
Letters of John Jay." This work was published in two octavo volumes in
1833, and was highly praised for both thoroughness and impartiality.
Meanwhile events were occurring which raised antislavery sentiment from
the torpor in which it had fallen after the excitement of the Missouri
Compromise, and which brought the whole question before the people as a
live issue which compelled attention. Between the years 1829 and 1832
took place a remarkable series of debates in Virginia on the subject of
slavery, brought about by dissatisfaction with the State constitution
and by the Nat Turner massacre, in which a number of slaves had risen
against their masters. In these debates the evils of slavery were
exposed as clearly as they were afterwards by the Abolitionists, and
with an outspoken freedom which, when indulged in by Northern men, was
soon to be denounced as treasonable and incendiary. These Southern
speakers were silenced by the Slave Power. But there were men in the
North who thought the same and who would not be silenced. Chief among
these was William Lloyd Garrison. He had begun his memorable career by
circulating petitions in Vermont in 1828 in favor of emancipation in the
District of Columbia. Having joined Lundy in Baltimore in editing the
_Genius of Universal Emancipation_, he had suffered ignominy in the
cause in a Southern jail; drawing from persecution and hardship only new
inspiration, he began the publication of the _Liberator_ at Boston in
January, 1831. In the following year, under his leadership, was formed
the New England Anti-Slavery Society, which placed itself on the new
ground that _immediate, unconditional emancipation, without
expatriation, was the right of every slave and could not be withheld by
his master an hour without sin_. In March, 1833, the _Weekly
Emancipator_ was established in New York, with the assistance of Arthur
and Lewis Tappan, and under the editorship of William Goodell. In the
same year appeared at Haverhill, Mass., a vigorous pamphlet by John G.
Whittier, entitled "Justice and Expediency, or Slavery considered with a
View to its Rightful and Effectual Remedy, Abolition." Nearly
simultaneously were published Mrs. Lydia Maria Child's "Appeal in Behalf
of that Class of Americans called Africans," and a pamphlet by Elizur
Wright, Jr., a professor in the Western Reserve College, on "The Sin of
Slavery and its Remedy."
These publications and the doctrines of the _Liberator_ produced great
excitement throughout the country. The South had been able to hear the
words "gradual emancipation" with a confident equanimity, and only a few
years before had tolerated a convention in Baltimore gathered to forward
that object. But the word "immediate" now prefixed to emancipation acted
as a firebrand to gunpowder. Southern newspapers and politicians could
not find epithets strong enough to denounce the fanatical incendiaries
who said that slavery, being wrong in itself, should cease at once. A
reward was offered by a Southern Legislature for the person of Garrison,
dead or alive. For lending Whittier's pamphlet to a white man Dr. Reuben
Crandall was tried for his life at Washington on the charge of
"circulating Tappan, Garrison & Co.'s papers encouraging the negroes to
insurrection."
The lives of the abolitionists were safer at the North, but their
principles were condemned there in terms quite as decided. To say that
slavery ought to be immediately abolished was sufficient cause for the
clergyman to lose his pulpit and the merchant his credit. The new
doctrine was too sound to be ignored, and its agitation was
disorganizing, vexatious, injurious to business, destructive of private
and political peace. The North agreed with the South that slavery was
not a subject to which the right of free speech applied. The
abolitionists were accused of injuring the cause of the blacks by their
proceedings. And indeed, at the South the treatment of the slave became
harsher, and at the North the prejudice against the free negro was
intensified. In 1833 Miss Crandall, a Quaker lady, endeavoured to
establish a boarding-school for the education of coloured girls in
Canterbury, Conn. A committee of the inhabitants waited upon her, who
represented "that by putting her design into execution she would bring
ruin and disgrace upon them all." Three town meetings were held in one
week to discuss ways and means to suppress a scheme which would render
"insecure the persons, property, and reputation of our citizens." The
State of Connecticut passed a special law to forbid the establishment of
such a school. Under it, Miss Crandall was tried and convicted. The
constitutionality of the law was called in question and the case was
appealed. But the inhabitants of Canterbury thought the crisis too
serious to depend on legal technicalities. Miss Crandall was driven from
the town by persecution. The shops would sell her no food; her well was
filled with manure, and water from other sources refused; her house was
smeared with filth and finally set on fire. The trustees of the Noyes
Academy in Plymouth, N. H., having consented to the admission of
coloured pupils, the respectable people of the town avoided the
contemplated disgrace by moving the school building from its
foundations and depositing it in a swamp. In 1835 a wealthy coloured
man bought a pew on the floor of Park Street Church in Boston. His
neighbours nailed up the door of the pew, and so many "aggrieved
brethren" threatened to leave that the trustees were obliged to prevent
the threatened contamination of the sanctuary by excluding the coloured
pew-holder. A hundred similar cases might be cited to show that before
the emancipation of the slaves could gain even a hearing, the North had
to be educated to consider the negro race as human beings capable of
improvement and deserving of humane encouragement.
In May, 1833, Judge Jay contributed to the first number of the
_Emancipator_ a letter which sets forth his own views of the problem of
American slavery at that time and also some of the difficulties in the
path of the emancipationists:
"The duty and policy of immediate emancipation, although clear to
us, are not so to multitudes of good people who abhor slavery and
sincerely wish its removal. They take it for granted, no matter why
or wherefore, that if the slaves were now liberated they would
instantly cut the throats and fire the dwellings of their
benefactors. Hence these good people look upon the advocates of
emancipation as a set of dangerous fanatics, who are jeopardizing
the peace of the Southern States and riveting the fetters of the
slaves by the very attempt to break them. In their opinion the
slaves are not fit for freedom, and therefore it is necessary to
wait patiently till they are. Now, unless these patient waiters can
be brought over to our side, emancipation is hopeless; for, first,
they are an immense majority of all among us who are hostile to
slavery; and, secondly, they are as conscientious in their opinions
as we are in ours, and unless converted will oppose and defeat all
our efforts. But how are they to be converted? Only by the
exhibition of Truth. The moral, social, and political evils of
slavery are but imperfectly known and considered. These should be
portrayed in strong but true colours, and it would not be difficult
to prove that, however inconvenient and dangerous emancipation may
be, the continuance of slavery must be infinitely more inconvenient
and dangerous.
"Constitutional restrictions, independent of other considerations,
forbid all other than moral interference with slavery in the
Southern States. But we have as good and perfect a right to exhort
slaveholders to liberate their slaves as we have to exhort them to
practice any virtue or avoid any vice. Nay, we have not only the
right, but under certain circumstances it may be our duty to give
such advice; and while we confine ourselves within the boundaries of
right and duty, we may and ought to disregard the threats and
denunciations by which we may be assailed.
"The question of slavery in the District of Columbia is totally
distinct, as far as we are concerned, from that of slavery in the
Southern States.
"As a member of Congress, I should think myself no more authorized
to legislate for the slaves of Virginia than for the serfs of
Russia. But Congress has full authority to abolish slavery in the
District, and I think it to be its duty to do so. The public need
information respecting the abominations committed at Washington with
the sanction of their representatives--abominations which will cease
whenever those representatives please. If this subject is fully and
ably pressed upon the attention of our electors, they may perhaps
be induced to require pledges from candidates for Congress for their
votes for the removal of this foul stain from our National
Government. As to the Colonization Society, it is neither a wicked
conspiracy on the one hand nor a panacea for slavery on the other.
Many good and wise men belong to it and believe in its efficacy."
In the summer of 1833 the abolitionists of Great Britain succeeded in
obtaining the act of emancipation for the 800,000 slaves in the West
Indies. In June Arthur Tappan wrote to Judge Jay asking for his "opinion
as to the expediency of forming an American Antislavery Society and of
doing it now. The impulse given to the cause by the movement in England
would, it appears to me, aid us greatly here." Jay replied very
cautiously. A New York society, he thought, might be desirable
immediately. The constitutions and proceedings of such societies
demanded great caution and prudence; they must blend the wisdom of the
serpent with the harmlessness of the dove. The Southern people affected
to apprehend an unconstitutional interference with their property, as
they called it, by the Northern abolitionists, and no ground for such
pretended fear should be given. With this view, he suggested the
incorporation into the constitution of antislavery societies a distinct
declaration, such as the following: "We concede that Congress, under the
present National Compact, has no right to interfere with any of the
slave States in relation to this momentous subject. But we maintain
that Congress has a right and is solemnly bound to suppress the domestic
slave-trade between the several States and to abolish slavery in those
portions of our territory which the Constitution has placed under its
exclusive jurisdiction." He further suggested that the two subjects, the
Colonization Society and the political condition of the free blacks,
should be avoided. "Duty and policy," he said, "in my opinion demand the
emancipation of our slaves, but they do not demand that immediately on
their emancipation they shall be invested with the right of suffrage."
On the 2d of October the New York City Antislavery Society was
successfully organized, despite an active and organized effort to
prevent it. A call had been issued for a meeting of the friends of
immediate emancipation at Clinton Hall. A counter-notice was published,
signed "Many Southerners," inviting a meeting at the same time and
place. The proprietors of Clinton Hall, alarmed at the situation,
refused to let it to the abolitionists, who then applied to the Clinton
Hotel, where they were also refused. The Southerners and their Northern
sympathizers, finding Clinton Hotel closed, held a meeting at Tammany
Hall, with General Bogardus, the United States Marshal, in the chair,
with speeches and resolutions against the abolitionists, when a report
that the abolitionists were in session at Chatham Street Hall sent them
there in haste, only to find the Hall closed and dark. An eye-witness
described the crowd assembled by the Southern call as "a genuine
drunken, infuriated mob of blackguards of every species, some with good
clothes, and the major part the very sweepings of the city." The public
was amused the next morning by a leading editorial in the _Courier and
Enquirer_, congratulating the country on the failure of the
"disorganizing fanatics to organize a society fraught with danger to the
Union and based upon an open violation of the United States
Constitution;" while the advertising column of the same sheet contained
the official proceedings of the abolitionists at the Chatham Street
Chapel, where with promptness, energy, and order they had received the
report of a committee, adopted a constitution, elected officers,
adjourned and closed the building before the arrival of the rioters from
Tammany. The successful management of the affair was due chiefly to the
coolness and skill of Lewis Tappan, to whose devotion and energy the
antislavery cause was from this time constantly indebted. The peaceful
and lawful aims of the society, its frank acknowledgment of the rights
of the Southern States were set forth in its constitution:
"While it admits that each State in which slavery exists has, by the
Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate
in regard to its abolition in said State, it shall aim to convince
all our fellow-citizens, by arguments addressed to their
understandings and consciences, that slaveholding is a heinous crime
in the sight of God, and that the duty, safety, and best interest
of all concerned require its immediate abandonment, without
expatriation. The society will also endeavour in a constitutional
way to influence Congress to put an end to the domestic slave-trade
and to abolish slavery in all those portions of our common country
which come under its control, especially in the District of
Columbia, and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any State
that may hereafter be admitted to the Union.
"The society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the
people of colour, by encouraging their intellectual, moral, and
religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, that thus
they may _according to their intellectual and moral worth_ share an
equality with the whites of civil and religious privileges; but this
society will never in any way countenance the oppressed in
vindicating their rights by resorting to physical force."
Notwithstanding the distinct and moderate language in which the society
set forth its lawful objects, pro-slavery prejudice was aroused to
violent opposition. A week later a meeting was called to protest against
the "reckless agitations of the abolitionists." Theodore Frelinghuysen,
United States Senator from New Jersey, declared that "nine tenths of the
horrors of slavery were imaginary," that "the crusade of abolition" was
"the poetry of philanthropy," that emancipationists were "seeking to
dissolve the Union." Chancellor Walworth came down from Albany to say
that they were "reckless incendiaries" and their efforts
unconstitutional. David B. Ogden declared the doctrine of immediate
emancipation to be "a palpable and direct nullification of the
Constitution."
On the 29th of October, 1833, a circular invitation was addressed to
Judge Jay and others to attend a convention at Philadelphia on the 4th
December to form a National Antislavery Society. This step was taken in
concurrence with the views of the friends of immediate emancipation in
Boston, Providence, New York, and Philadelphia. Among the motives for
organizing such a society without delay it was argued that union is
strength; that the advocates of the immediate abolition of slavery,
though comparatively few and much scattered, were many in the aggregate,
and could act, when combined, with irresistible power; that the cause
was urgent, public expectation excited, its friends to some extent
committed to such a movement during the present year; that they had the
example of similar organizations, which, though feeble and condemned by
public opinion in the outset, had speedily risen to great influence, and
had been the means under God of immense benefit to the human race,
especially in the case of the National Antislavery Society of Great
Britain, and of the American Temperance Society. The invitation was
signed by a committee consisting of Arthur Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, and
Elizur Wright, Jr., all officers of the New York Antislavery Society.
At the same time Judge Jay received a letter from Rev. Samuel J. May
urging him to be present. "This is a cause," wrote May, "in which our
wisest and best and most prudent men ought to engage. There never has
been in our country so great a demand for the exertions of true patriots
and real Christians.... Let me beg of you to be there, at the
convention. I have heard the hope that you will be there expressed most
fervently by many."
Jay replied to the committee that he could not be present. "It would
perhaps be uncandid to conceal from you," he said, "that the expediency
of the proposed attempt to form a National Society at the present time
seems to me to be at least questionable. May it not increase the
irritation and hostility extensively felt towards abolitionists without
promoting their objects more effectually than local societies? If,
however, a National Society is to be formed, it is to be hoped its
proceedings will be marked with great prudence and moderation. The great
objection made to antislavery associations is that they aim at an
unconstitutional interference with slavery. This objection, false as I
am persuaded it is, has nevertheless an extensive and injurious
influence, and unless it be removed success will be hopeless. It seems
to me, therefore, of the utmost importance that correct constitutional
principles on this subject should not only be entertained, but
explicitly and unequivocally avowed by every antislavery society. This
avowal might be made in the preamble of their constitution in some form
like the following:
"'The object of this society is to promote the abolition of slavery
in the United States. As all legislation relative to slavery in the
several States in which it exists can be constitutionally exercised
only by their respective Legislatures, this society will endeavour
to effect its object, so far as relates to these States, by argument
addressed to the understanding and conscience of their citizens. But
inasmuch as the Federal Constitution confers on Congress the
exclusive right to legislate for the District of Columbia, this
society will use all such lawful and constitutional means as may be
deemed advisable to induce Congress to abolish slavery in that
District without delay.'
"I am very sensible that the friends of emancipation hold these
principles, but not having given them sufficient prominence in their
writings they have subjected themselves to much injurious suspicion."
Judge Jay's letter was read on the first day of the Antislavery
Convention held in Philadelphia in December, 1833; and in the
declaration of principles, reported by William Lloyd Garrison, John G.
Whittier, and Samuel J. May, and unanimously adopted by the convention,
appeared the following clauses, by which the abolitionists were enabled
to repel the charge, so persistently made, that they sought to
accomplish their ends by unconstitutional means, by asking Congress to
exceed its power by meddling with slavery in the States:
"We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of each State to
legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery which is tolerated
within its limits; we concede that Congress under the present
National Compact has no right to interfere with any of the slave
States in relation to this momentous subject.
"But we maintain that Congress has a right and is solemnly bound to
suppress the domestic slave-trade between the several States, and to
abolish slavery in those portions of our territory which the
Constitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction."
In 1838 an energetic attempt was made by Alvan Stewart, of Utica, to
strike out the clause in the constitution of the American Antislavery
Society which recognized the rights of the Southern States under the
United States Constitution. Jay perceived the injury that such a course
would inflict on the position of the abolitionists. It would, indeed,
have committed the society to the doctrine that Congress could continue
slavery in the States. He opposed the change with vigour during a debate
of two days and succeeded in maintaining the all-important clause.
Looked at by the light of subsequent events, the importance of placing
the antislavery movement on a strictly constitutional basis cannot be
overrated. Upon the principles thus distinctly avowed rested the moral
and political strength of the movement during a struggle of nearly
thirty years. And these principles became, in 1854, under the guidance
of the founders of the Republican party, the chief plank in the platform
of that great organization, under whose sturdy lead, aided by citizens
of all parties, the supremacy of the national Constitution was
maintained, the integrity of the national territory was preserved,
slavery was ended, and the republic saved.
Judge Jay was not yet officially connected with the antislavery
societies, but his sympathy was close with them and their officers. At
the request of the Executive Committee of the New York society, he
drafted a petition for abolition in the District of Columbia for
circulation in New York, in which he again distinctly drew the line
between the power of Congress over the District and its want of power as
regarded the States. This careful discrimination had no weight with the
many who were unwilling to admit that anything said or done by the
abolitionists was right. But it succeeded with more liberal men, among
them the good Chancellor Kent. The Chancellor, whose reputation as a
jurist was second to none, signed the petition, which he declared to
contain "no unconstitutional doctrine."
The first anniversary of the American Antislavery Society was held at
the Chatham Street Chapel in the beginning of May, 1834. Arthur Tappan
presided, and addresses were made by Elizur Wright, Jr., Rev. Amos A.
Phelps of Boston, James A. Stone of Kentucky, a delegate from the Lane
Seminary, Robert Purvis of Philadelphia, Rev. Henry G. Ludlow, Wm. Lloyd
Garrison, and Charles Stewart. The meeting met with disorderly
interruptions; the newspapers contained abusive attacks upon the
abolitionists and appealed against them to the passions of the lowest
and most ignorant class in the community. "All this violence and
obloquy," remarked Judge Jay, "are not without an object, and that
object is intimidation." The truth of this observation was soon
disgracefully verified. When the Fourth of July was celebrated at the
Chatham Street Chapel by an antislavery oration from David Paul Brown of
Philadelphia, the disorderly elements evoked by the press against the
blacks and abolitionists responded in large force and with increased
lawlessness. On the 9th of July a mob assembled at the Chapel, broke
open the doors, passed resolutions in favor of the Colonization Society
and by a suggestive vote adjourned until the next meeting of the
Antislavery Society. The mob then proceeded to the Bowery Theatre to
avenge some expressions attributed to an English actor, and next to the
house of Mr. Lewis Tappan, which was attacked with bricks and stones,
the furniture broken up and burned in the street. The riots continued
for several days with little hindrance from the city authorities. Six
churches were attacked and a large number of houses occupied by
abolitionists or by coloured people. Against the latter the fury of the
mob was especially directed. The same scenes of riot and cruelty toward
the helpless blacks occurred in Philadelphia, where forty-five houses
were destroyed. It was evident that the arguments of the abolitionists
could not be met except with violence. The mobs, as usual, were
cowardly. In some cases the determined action of the abolitionists
afforded them the protection refused by the police. It was announced
that among the houses to be attacked was that of Dr. Abraham L. Cox, in
Broome Street, a few doors east of Broadway. John Jay, then a student at
Columbia College, was living in the house. Some members of the New York
Young Men's Antislavery Society, with guns and pistols, were gathered
within and notice was given publicly that an attack would be repelled by
force. Late that night the mob in its lawless career passed close to Dr.
Cox's house, but did not dare to molest it. Similar preparations for
defence saved the store of Arthur Tappan.
While the New York mob, as the _Commercial Advertiser_ said, were "now
nightly engaged in deeds of violence," the same paper distinctly took
the ground that the abolitionists should not enjoy "the protection of
the law and the aid of the military," except "on condition that the
causers of these mischiefs shall be abated and the outrages upon public
feelings from the forum, the pulpit, and the press shall no more be
repeated by these reckless incendiaries." The _Courier and Inquirer_ of
the same day said: "Now we tell them [the abolitionists] that when they
openly and publicly promulgate doctrines which outrage public feelings,
they have no right to demand protection of the people they insult," and
they must understand "that they prosecute their treasonable and beastly
plans at their own peril." Such was the view taken of American freedom
of speech by the pro-slavery party. The manly traits of American
character seemed to be lost in the prevailing atmosphere of race
prejudice, cowardice, and injustice. Politicians of both parties,
representatives of the commercial and professional classes of the North,
acquiesced in a policy which they thought would advance their views, but
which was destructive of the fundamental principles of American liberty.
The highest and the lowest had joined hands to assail the coloured
people and their friends. Names honoured in the Church and the State,
which should have helped to elevate public opinion and to guide it in
the path of justice, obeyed the mandates and echoed the denunciations of
the Slave Power. For a time was presented an alliance in behalf of
slavery of the highest classes with the scum of politicians and
criminals. The intrepid William Leggett was one of the few who dared to
publish the truth. "The fury of demons," he wrote in the _Evening Post_,
"seems to have entered into the breasts of our misguided populace. The
rights of public and private property, the obligations of law, the
authority of its ministers and even the power of the military are all
equally spurned by these audacious sons of riot and disorder." Candid
and cautious thinkers began to take alarm at the disregard for law which
seemed to be spreading through the country. "These mobs," wrote Dr.
Channing, "are indeed most dishonourable to us as a people, because they
have been too much the expression of public sentiment, ... because
there was a willingness that the antislavery movement should be put down
by force."
The conduct of the mobs, and the encouragement given to them by the
press, aroused the spirit and stimulated the energy of the
abolitionists. "These crimes," said Judge Jay, "abundantly prove the
extreme cruelty and sinfulness of that prejudice against colour which we
are impiously told is an ordination of Providence. Colonizationists,
assuming the prejudice to be natural and invincible, propose to remove
its victims beyond its influence. Abolitionists, on the contrary,
remembering with the Psalmist 'that it is He that hath made us, and not
we ourselves,' believe that the benevolent Father of us all requires us
to treat with justice and kindness every portion of the human family."
Although he had been an earnest emancipationist for ten years, Judge Jay
had had doubts of the wisdom of forming antislavery societies at so
early a period in the movement. He had feared that unmeasured and
unconstitutional doctrines might be adopted which would set the cause in
a false light before the country. His advice had been sought and
followed, as we have seen, and there was no longer any reason why he
should not become an active member. In 1834, immediately after the riots
and when the outlook seemed darkest, he took a place on the Executive
Committee of the National Society.
"In that season of feverish excitement," wrote Hon. Henry Wilson,
"Judge William Jay, inheriting not only the honoured name, but the
principles and purity of the illustrious Chief-Justice, at first
declined an office in the new society, deeming its organization
premature," but now "sought to take his share of its labours and
responsibilities. His name gave prestige; his talents, learning, and
integrity afforded strength, while his cautious and ready pen laid
precious gifts upon its altar."
In February, 1835, was published Jay's "Inquiry into the Character and
Tendency of the American Colonization and American Antislavery
Societies." The book bore upon its title-page the words of Milton, "Give
me liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, according to my
conscience, above all liberties"--a sentiment considered treasonable in
America by the Slave Power. This work had a powerful effect upon public
opinion, not only on account of the arguments it contained, but largely
on account of the character and position of its author. It was the
policy of the pro-slavery party to represent the abolitionists as
ignorant and reckless agitators, with nothing to lose. But here was a
man of family and fortune, a judge on the bench, high in the counsels of
the Episcopal Church, who set forth the detested doctrines with judicial
moderation and unanswerable logic.
Jay began by an exposure of the Colonization Society. He showed that it
was merely a scheme to get rid of the free blacks at the South, where
they were regarded as a nuisance; that its officers represented it at
the North as a solution of the slavery question to quiet
emancipationists and to obtain their subscriptions. He set forth the
constitutional and merciful objects of the American Antislavery Society.
He showed that abolitionists were neither acting in opposition to law,
nor were in any manner exciting the slaves to insurrection; that the
opinions they professed were such as had been freely uttered by
Jefferson, Franklin, and numerous Southern statesmen within fifty years.
He exposed the cruel character of American slavery, the beastly
degradation, physical, moral, and mental, to which it condemned the
blacks; the horrors of the interstate slave-trade, tearing husband from
wife and children from their mothers to be sold into distant places; he
pointed out the national disgrace involved in the fact that in the city
of Washington, under the stars and stripes, slave-dealers were licensed
to ply their trade in human flesh, leading the chained "coffles" of
black wretches about the streets. The concluding chapters were devoted
to showing that emancipation could be accomplished with safety, and that
the real danger to the country lay in the continuation of slavery.
The welcome extended to this book by the avowed abolitionists is
illustrated by the following extract from the annual report of the
Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1836: "We know it will not be
thought invidious towards others who have greatly contributed by their
excellent writings to help on our glorious enterprise, if we make
especial mention of the volume from the pen of the Hon. William Jay of
New York. His 'Inquiry' was published in the early part of last year.
Coming from him, a man extensively known, and highly respected and
beloved by all who know him, it could not fail to command the public
attention. The very rapid sale of the first and second editions evinced
the eagerness of thousands to know the results of his inquiry into the
sentiments and plans of the two societies which had stood from the birth
of the latter in the attitude of opposition. It is a book so full of
pertinent facts and carefully drawn conclusions that it could not fail
to impart the convictions of its author to other minds. No book on the
subject has probably been read by more persons, nor has any one been
instrumental to the conversion of more."
The importance of the "Inquiry" to the antislavery cause is illustrated
by the diverse character of the men whose attention was attracted by
it--men whose conservative habits of mind, whose business and
professional interests caused them to ignore if not to condemn the
abolitionists. "Your book," wrote Rev. Beriah Green, who presided at the
organization of the American Antislavery Society in Philadelphia, "will
command a large circle of readers who could not be persuaded to examine
a paragraph written by any of us who have so long been known and hated
and execrated as abolitionists. To many of these, your arguments, so
skilfully arranged, so powerfully described, so happily conducted to so
triumphant a conclusion, must prove convincing. They must abandon their
'miry clay,' and, aided by your hand, take a position 'on the rock.'"
Among leading men influenced by Jay's "Inquiry" may be mentioned Dr.
Alonzo Potter, afterwards Bishop of Pennsylvania, and Peter G.
Stuyvesant, a representative of the solid Knickerbockers of New York.
Edward Delavan, of Albany, wrote: "You have done the cause of humanity
an incalculable amount of good by the work." Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick
wrote from Stockbridge: "We are reading your book on American slavery
with great interest. You have rendered an invaluable service to the
country and to the cause of humanity." The approbation most welcome to
Jay was probably that of the eminent Chancellor Kent. "I have read the
volume," he said, "with equal interest and astonishment. You have
accumulated a mass of facts of which a great part were to me unknown,
and they are of a surprising kind. I do not well see how your argument
on any material point can be gainsaid. You have amply vindicated the
character and intentions of the American Antislavery Society from all
injurious imputations. The details of the slave-trade and its
accompanying atrocities, as carried on at Washington, are horrible, and
your work must go far towards opening the eyes and disabusing the minds
of the public. I have, from the very beginning, had doubts and
misgivings as to the efficacy and results of the American Colonization
Society, and for some years past I have become satisfied that the scheme
was in reality but an Utopian vision, though I had supposed until now
that its fruits were better. Permit me to add that I have been much
pleased, not only with the clearness, force, simplicity, and precision
of the style, but with your fearless, frank, and manly, but courteous
vindication of the cause of Truth and Justice, and with your striking
appeals to the conscience and responsibilities of the Christian
reader."