THE ABOLITIONISTS.
A little more than forty years ago, William Lloyd Garrison hoisted the
banner of immediate and unconditional emancipation, as the right of
the slave, and the duty of the master. The men and women who gradually
rallied around him, fully comprehended the solemn responsibility they
were then taking, and seemed prepared to consecrate the best years
of their lives to the cause of human freedom. Amid the moral and
political darkness which then overshadowed the land, the voice of
humanity was at length faintly heard, and soon aroused opposition; for
slavery was rooted and engrafted in every fibre of American society.
The imprisonment of Mr. Garrison at Baltimore, at once directed public
attention to the heinous sin which he was attacking, and called around
him some of the purest and best men of the country.
The Boston mob of 1835 gave now impulse to the agitation, and brought
fresh aid to the pioneer of the movement. Then came the great battle
for freedom of speech and the press; a battle in which the heroism of
this small body of proscribed men and women had ample room to show
their genius and abilities. The bold and seeming audacity with which
they attacked slavery in every corner where the monster had taken
refuge, even in the face of lynchings, riots, and murders, carried with
it a charm which wrung applause from the sympathizing heart throughout
the world, and showed that the American Abolitionists possessed a
persistency and a courage which had never found a parallel in the
annals of progress and reform.
In the spring of 1859, we attended a meeting of the Executive Committee
of the American Anti-slavery Society, as it was then organized, and
we shall write of the members as they appeared at that time. The
committee was composed of twelve persons besides the chairman, and were
seated around a long table. At the head of the table sat William Lloyd
Garrison, the Chairman of the Board, and the acknowledged leader of the
movement. His high and prominent forehead, piercing eye, pleasant, yet
anxious countenance, long nose, and smile upon his lips, point him out
at once as a man born to guide and direct.
The deference with which he is treated by his associates shows their
appreciation of his abilities and his moral worth. Tender and blameless
in his family affections, devoted to his friends, simple and studious,
upright, guileless, distinguished, and worthy, like the great men
of antiquity, to be immortalized by another Plutarch. As a speaker,
he is forcible, clear, and logical; as a writer, he has always been
regarded as one of the ablest in our country. How many services, never
to be forgotten, has he not rendered to the cause of the slave and the
welfare of mankind.
Many of those who started out with him in young manhood, when he left
his Newburyport home, were swept away like so much floating wood before
the tide.
When the sturdiest characters gave way, when the finest geniuses passed
one after another under the yoke of slavery, Garrison stood firm to
his convictions, like a rock that stands stirless amid the conflicting
agitation of the waves. He is not only the friend and advocate of
freedom with his pen and tongue, but to the oppressed of every clime he
opens his purse, his house, and his heart. In days past, the fugitive
slave, fresh from the prison-house of the South, who was turned off by
the politician, and had experienced the cold shoulder of the divine,
found a warm bed and breakfast under the hospitable roof of William
Lloyd Garrison.
The society whose executive committee is now in session, is one of no
inconsiderable influence in the United States. No man has had more
bitter enemies or stauncher friends than Mr. Garrison.
There are those among his friends who would stake their all upon
his veracity and integrity; and we are sure that the colored people
throughout America, in whose cause he has so long labored, will with
one accord assign the highest niche in their affections to the champion
of universal emancipation. This is not intended as an eulogium, for
no words of ours could add the weight of a feather to the world-wide
fame of William Lloyd Garrison; but we simply wish to record the
acknowledgment of a grateful negro to the most distinguished friend of
his race.
On the right of the chairman sat Wendell Phillips, America’s ablest
orator. He is a little above the middle height, well made, and
remarkably graceful in person. His golden hair is now growing thin and
changing its color, and his youthful look has gone; but he shows no
yielding to age, and is in the full maturity of his powers. Descended
from one of the oldest and most cultivated stock of New England’s sons;
educated at the first university; graduating with all the honors which
the college could bestow on him; studying law with Judge Story, and
becoming a member of the bar; he has all the accomplishments that these
advantages can give to a man of a great mind.
Nature has treated Mr. Phillips as a favorite. His expressive
countenance paints and reflects every emotion of his soul. His
gestures, like his delivery, are wonderfully graceful. There is a
fascination in the soft gaze of his eyes, which none can but admire.
Being a close student, and endowed by Nature with a retentive memory,
he supplies himself with the most complicated dates and historical
events. Nothing can surpass the variety of his matter. He extracts
from a subject all that it contains, and does it as none but Wendell
Phillips can. His voice is beautifully musical, and it is calculated
to attract wherever it is heard. He is a man of calm intrepidity, of
a patriotic and warm heart, with temper the most gentle, a rectitude
of principle entirely natural, a freedom from ambition, and a modesty
quite singular.
His speeches upon every subject upon which he has spoken, will
compare favorably with anything ever uttered by Pitt or Sheridan in
their palmiest days. No American is so eagerly reported in Europe,
in what he says on the platform, as Mr. Phillips. His appeal for
Cretan independence was circulated in the language of Demosthenes and
Isocrates through Greece and its islands, and reached the ears of the
mountaineers of Crete, for whom he spoke.
But it is in the Anti-slavery cause that we love to write of him. As a
speaker on that platform, he has never had an equal; and the good he
has rendered the slave by his eloquent speeches can never be estimated.
Considering his position in society, his talents and prospects when in
youth he entered the ranks of the proscribed and hated Abolitionists,
we feel that Mr. Phillips has sacrificed more upon the altar of freedom
than any other living man.
On the opposite side of the table from Mr. Phillips, sits Edmund
Quincy, the ripe scholar and highly-cultivated gentleman and
interesting writer. If he is not so eloquent a speaker as his friend
Phillips, he is none the less staunch in his adherence to principle. He
is one of the best presiding officers that New England can produce.
A little farther down on the same side is Francis Jackson. His calm
Roman face, large features, well-developed head, and robust-looking
frame tells you at once that he is a man of courage. He was one of
the first to take his stand by the side of Mr. Garrison; and when the
mob in 1835 broke up the anti-slavery meeting held by the ladies, Mr.
Jackson, with a moral courage scarcely ever equalled, came forward and
offered his private dwelling to them to hold their meeting in.
Still farther down on the same side sits Maria Weston Chapman, the
well-read and accomplished lady, the head and heart of the Anti-slavery
Bazaar. Many an influential woman has been induced to take part in
the Bazaar and Subscription Festival, solely on account of the earnest
eloquence and polished magnetism of Mrs. Chapman. By her side sits her
gifted little sister, Anne Warren Weston. On the opposite side of the
table is Samuel May, Jr., the able and efficient general agent of the
Society. To his perseverance, industry, gentlemanly manners, and good
sense, the Society owes much of its success. In the earlier days of the
movement, Mr. May left the pulpit and a lucrative salary, that he might
devote his time to the cause in which his heart had long been engaged.
Mr. May is an earnest speaker, and never takes the platform unless
he has something to say. He is simple, plain, and one of the best of
friends. It was the good fortune of the writer to be associated with
him for a number of years; and he never looks back to those days but
with the best feeling and most profound respect for the moral character
and Christian worth of Samuel May, Jr.
Not far from Mr. May sat Charles F. Hovey, the princely Summer Street
merchant, the plain, honest, outspoken man whose heart felt the wrongs
of the oppressed as keenly as if he himself had been one of the race.
Gathered since to his heavenly rest, he bequeathed a large sum of
money to carry on the battle for the negro’s freedom. Farther down the
table was Eliza Lee Follen, whose poems in favor of liberty have so
often been sung in our anti-slavery conventions. Sydney Howard Gay,
the polished writer, the editor of the Society’s organ, occupied a
seat next to Mrs. Follen. With small frame, finely-cut features, and
pleasant voice, he is ever listened to with marked attention. Mr. Gay
is a gentleman in every sense of the term.
Near the end of the table is William I. Bowditch, the able scholar, the
ripe lawyer, the devoted friend of freedom. Lastly, there is Charles
K. Whipple, the “C. K. W.,” of “The Liberator,” and the “North,” of
the “Anti-slavery Standard.” A stronger executive board for a great
moral object probably never existed. They were men and women in whom
the public had the utmost confidence, individually, for rectitude of
character.
There were also present on this occasion five persons who were not
members of the board, but whose long and arduous labors entitled them
to a seat around the table. These were Samuel J. May, Lydia Maria
Child, James and Lucretia Mott, and Thomas Garrett; and of these we
shall now make mention.
Born in Boston, educated in her unsurpassed schools, a graduate of
Harvard University, and deeply imbued with the spirit and teachings
of the great leader of our salvation, and a philanthropist by nature,
Samuel J. May was drawn to the side of Mr. Garrison by the force of
sympathy. He was a member of the Philadelphia Convention in 1833,
at the formation of the American Anti-slavery Society, and his name
is appended to the immortal “Declaration of Sentiments,” penned by
Garrison, his life-long friend. When Prudence Crandall was imprisoned
at Canterbury, Connecticut, for the crime of teaching colored girls
to read, her most attached friend was Samuel J. May. He defended the
persecuted woman, and stood by her till she was liberated. Although
closely confined to his duties as preacher of the Gospel, Mr. May
gave much of his time to the slaves’ cause. As a speaker, he was
always interesting; for his sweet spirit and loving nature won to him
the affectionate regard of all with whom he came in contact. As an
Abolitionist, none were more true, more fearless. His house was long
the home of the fugitive slaves passing through Syracuse, New York, and
his church was always open to the anti-slavery lecturer when others
were shut against him.
Lydia Maria Child early embraced the cause of the enslaved negro. Her
sketches of some of the intellectual characters of the race appeared
more than thirty years ago, and created considerable sensation from the
boldness with which she advocated the black man’s equality.
James and Lucretia Mott were amongst the first in Pennsylvania to take
the stand by the side of Mr. Garrison in defence of negro freedom.
They were Abolitionists in every sense of the term, even to their
clothing and food, for they were amongst the earliest to encourage the
introduction of free-labor goods as a means of breaking up slavery,
by reducing the value of the products of the slave’s toil. As a
speaker, Mrs. Mott was doubtless the most eloquent woman that America
ever produced. A highly-cultivated and reflective mind, thoroughly
conversant with the negro’s suffering, hating everything that savored
of oppression, whether religiously or politically, and possessing the
brain and the courage, Mrs. Mott’s speeches were always listened to
with the closest attention and the greatest interest.
Mr. Mott took little or no part in public gatherings; but his
suggestions on committees, and his advice generally, were reliable. He
gave of his means liberally, and seconded every movement of his noble
wife.
Thomas Garrett was an Abolitionist from his youth up; and though the
grand old cause numbered among its supporters, poets, sages, and
statesmen, it had no more faithful worker in its ranks than Thomas
Garrett. The work of this good man lay in Delaware, one of the
meanest states in the Union, and the services which he rendered the
free colored people of that State in their efforts to rise above the
prejudice exhibited against their race can never be estimated.
But it was as a friend of the bondman escaping from his oppressor that
Mr. Garrett was most widely known. For more than forty years he devoted
himself to aiding the runaway slave in getting his freedom.
We have written of the executive officers of the most radical wing
of the Anti-slavery movement, yet there was still another band whose
labors were, if possible, more arduous, and deserve as much praise as
any of whom we have made mention.
These were the lecturing agents, the men and women who performed the
field service, the most difficult part of all the work. They went from
city to city, and from town to town, urging the claims of the slave to
his freedom; uttering truths that the people were not prepared for, and
receiving in return, rotten eggs, sticks, stones, and the condemnation
of the public generally. Many of these laborers neither asked nor
received any compensation; some gave their time and paid their own
expenses, satisfied with having an opportunity to work for humanity.
In the front rank of this heroic and fearless band, stood Abby Kelly
Foster, the Joan of Arc, of the anti-slavery movement. Born, we
believe, in the Society of Friends, and retaining to a great extent the
seriousness of early training, convinced of the heinousness of slavery,
she threw comfort, ease, and everything aside, and gave herself, in the
bloom of young womanhood, to the advocacy of the right of the negro to
his freedom. We first met Mrs. Foster (then Miss Kelly), about thirty
years ago, at Buffalo, in the State of New York, and for the first time
listened to a lecture against the hated system from which we had so
recently escaped.
Somewhat above the common height, slim, but well-proportioned,
finely-developed forehead and a pleasing countenance, eyes bright,
voice clear, gestures a little nervous, and dressed in a plain manner,
Mrs. Foster’s appearance on that occasion made a deep and lasting
impression upon her audience. The life-like pictures which she drew of
the helpless condition of her sisters in chains brought tears to many
eyes, and when she demanded that those chains should be broken they
responded with wild applause.
As a speaker, Mrs. Foster is logical, forcible; leaping from irony to
grave argument. Her illustrations, anecdotes, and figures are always to
the point. She is sharp and quick at repartee. In the earlier days of
the movement, she was considered very able in discussion. At Buffalo,
where we first heard her, she basted one of our ablest lawyers until
he acknowledged the fact, amid loud applause. Mrs. Foster was at times
harsh, but not harsher than truth. She is uncompromising, and always
reliable in a public meeting where discussion on reformatory questions
is under consideration. This lady gave the best years of her useful
life to the redemption of the negro from slavery.
We may well give Stephen S. Foster a place by the side of his noble
wife. He, too, embraced the cause of the slave at the dawn of the
agitation of the subject, and at once became one of its ablest
advocates. In downright field-work, as a lecturer, he did more than any
other man. Mr. Foster was the most unpopular of all the anti-slavery
agents; and simply because he “hewed to the line and the plummet,”
not caring in whose face the chips flew. He was always at home in a
discussion, and woe betide the person who fell into his hands. His
announcement of his subject often startled his hearers, and even his
best friends and associates would sometimes feel that he had overstated
the question. But he always more than proved what he had said in the
outset. In private life he is almost faultless; proverbially honest,
trustworthy, and faithful in all his dealings, possessing in the
estimation of his neighbors a high moral character.
Parker Pillsbury entered the field as an advocate of freedom about the
same time as did Mr. Foster, and battled nobly for the oppressed.
Charles L. Remond was, we believe, the first man of color to take the
platform as a regular lecturer in the anti-slavery cause, and was, no
doubt, the ablest representative that the race had till the appearance
of Frederick Douglass, in 1842. Mr. Remond prided himself more as the
representative of the educated free man of color, and often alluded to
the fact that “not a drop of slave blood” coursed through his veins.
Mr. Remond has little or no originality, but his studied elocutionary
powers, and fine flow of language, together with his being a colored
man, always gained for him an attentive hearing. But the genius and
originality of Frederick Douglass, and his unadorned eloquence,
overshadowed and threw Remond in the shade. This so soured the latter
that he never recovered from it, and even at the present time speaks
disparagingly of his early friend and associate. However, both of these
gentlemen did much to bring about the abolition of American Slavery.
Conspicuous among the advocates of freedom, almost from its earliest
dawn to its close, was Charles C. Burleigh, the devoted friend of
humanity. Nature has been profuse in showering her gifts upon Mr.
Burleigh, but all have been bestowed upon his head and heart. There
is a kind of eloquence which weaves its thread around the hearer,
and gradually draws him into its web, fascinating him with its
gaze, entangling him as the spider does the fly, until he is fast.
Such is the eloquence of Charles C. Burleigh. As a debater, he is
unquestionably the ablest who took sides with the slave. If he did not
speak so fast, he would equal Wendell Phillips; if he did not reason
his subject out of existence, he would surpass him. Cyrus M. Burleigh
also did good service in the anti-slavery cause, both as a lecturer and
editor of “The Pennsylvania Freeman.”
If Lucy Stone did not come into the field as early as some of whom we
have made mention, she brought with her when she did an earnestness
and enthusiasm that gave her an attentive audience wherever she spoke.
Under the middle size, hair generally cut short, round face, eyes
sparkling, not handsome, yet good to look upon, always plainly dressed,
not a single dollar for diamonds, but a heart gushing for humanity,
Lucy Stone at once became one of the most popular of the anti-slavery
speakers. Her arguments are forcible, her appeals pathetic, her
language plain, and at times classical. She is ready in debate, fertile
in illustration, eloquent in enunciation, and moves a congregation as
few can.
For real, earnest labor, as a leader of a corps of agents in a
reformatory movement, Susan B. Anthony has few equals. As a speaker,
she is full of facts and illustrations, and at times truly eloquent.
Susan is always reliable; and if any of her travelling companions are
colored, her hawk-eye is ever on the watch to see that their rights
are not invaded on the score of their complexion. The writer’s dark
skin thoroughly tested Miss Anthony’s grit some years ago at Cleveland,
Ohio; but when weighed, she was not found wanting. On that occasion
she found an efficient backer in our able and eloquent friend, Aaron
M. Powell. These two, backed by the strong voice and earnest words of
Andrew T. Foss, brought the hotelkeeper to his senses; and the writer
was allowed to go to the dinner-table, and eat with white folks. Mr.
Powell has for some years been the sole editor of the “Anti-Slavery
Standard,” and as editor and speaker has rendered a lasting service
to the cause of negro freedom. Andrew T. Foss left his pulpit some
twenty years ago, to devote his entire time to the discussion of the
principles of liberty, where his labors were highly appreciated.
Sallie Hollie filled an important niche on the anti-slavery platform.
Her Orthodox antecedents, her scriptural knowledge, her prayerful and
eloquent appeals obtained for her admission into churches when many
others were refused; yet she was as uncompromising as truth.
Oliver Johnson gave his young manhood to the negro’s cause when to
be an Abolitionist cost more than words. He was, in the earlier days
of the movement, one of the hardest workers; both as a lecturer and
writer, that the cause had. Mr. Johnson is a cogent reasoner, a deep
thinker, a ready debater, an accomplished writer, and an eloquent
speaker. He has at times edited the “Herald of Freedom,” “Anti-Slavery
Standard,” and “Anti-Slavery Bugle;” and has at all times been one of
the most uncompromising and reliable of the “Old Guard.”
Henry C. Wright was also among the early adherents to the doctrine of
universal and immediate emancipation, and gave the cause the best years
of his life.
Giles B. Stebbins, a ripe scholar, an acute thinker, earnest and able
as a speaker, devoted to what he conceives to be right, was for years
one of the most untiring of freedom’s advocates.
Of those who occasionally volunteered their services without money and
without price, few struck harder blows at the old Bastile of slavery
than James N. Buffum, a man of the people, whose abilities have been
appreciated and acknowledged by his election as mayor of his own city
of Lynn.
James Miller McKim was one of the signers of the Declaration of
Sentiments, at Philadelphia, in 1833, and ever after gave his heart
and his labors to the slave’s cause. For many years the leading man
in the Anti-slavery Society in Pennsylvania, Mr. McKim’s labors were
arduous, yet he never swerved from duty. He is a scholar, well
read, and is a good speaker, only a little nervous. His round face
indicates perseverance that will not falter, and integrity that will
not disappoint. He always enjoyed the confidence of the Abolitionists
throughout the country, and is regarded as a man of high moral
character. Of the underground railroad through Pennsylvania, Mr. McKim
knows more than any man except William Still.
Mary Grew, for her earnest labors, untiring activity, and truly
eloquent speeches, was listened to with great interest and attention
wherever she spoke. A more zealous and able friend the slave never had
in Pennsylvania.
Lucretia Mott, the most eloquent woman that America ever produced,
was a life-long Abolitionist, of the straightest kind. For years her
clothing, food, and even the paper that she wrote her letters on, were
the products of free labor. Thirty years ago we saw Mrs. Mott take from
her pocket a little paper bag filled with sugar, and sweeten her tea.
We then learned that it was her practice so to do when travelling, to
be sure of having free sugar.
A phrenologist would pronounce her head faultless. She has a thoughtful
countenance, eyes beaming with intelligence, and a voice of much
compass. Mrs. Mott speaks hesitatingly at times, when she begins her
remarks, and then words flow easily, and every word has a thought. She
was always a favorite with the Abolitionists, and a welcome speaker at
their anniversary meetings.
This was the radical wing of the Abolitionists,--men and women who
believed mainly in moral suasion. Outside of these were many others
who were equally sincere, and were laboring with all their powers
to bring about emancipation, and to some of them I shall now call
attention.
Some thirty years ago we met for the first time a gentleman of noble
personal appearance, being about six feet in height, well-proportioned;
forehead high and broad; large dark eyes, full of expression; hair
brown, and a little tinged with gray. The fascination of his smiling
gaze, and the hearty shake of his large, soft hand, made us feel at
home when we were introduced to Gerrit Smith. His comprehensive and
well-cultivated mind, his dignified and deliberate manner and musical
voice fit him for what he is,--one of Nature’s noblest orators.
Speaking is not the finest trait in the character of Mr. Smith, but his
great, large heart, every pulsation of which beats for humanity. He
brought to the negro’s cause wealth and position, and laid it all upon
the altar of his redemption. In the year 1846 he gave three thousand
farms to the same number of colored men; and three years later he gave
a farm each to one thousand white men, with ten thousand dollars to be
divided amongst them.
Mr. Smith has spent in various ways many hundred thousand dollars
for the liberation and elevation of the blacks of this country. Next
to Mr. Smith, in the State of New York, is Beriah Greene, whose long
devotion to the cause of freedom is known throughout our land. Many of
the colored men whose career have done honor to the race, owe their
education to Mr. Greene. He is the most radical churchman we know of,
always right on the question of slavery. He did much in the early days
of the agitation, and his speeches were considered amongst the finest
productions on the anti-slavery platform.
The old Abolitionists of thirty years ago still remember with pleasure
the smiling face and intellectual countenance of Nathaniel P. Rogers,
editor of the “Herald of Freedom,” a weekly newspaper that found a
welcome wherever it went. Mr. Rogers was a man of rare gifts, of a
philosophical and penetrating mind, high literary cultivation, quick
perception, and of a most genial nature. He dealt hard blows at the
peculiar institution with both his tongue and his pen. As a speaker,
he was more argumentative than eloquent, but was always good in a
discussion. As an ardent friend of Mr. Garrison, and a co-worker with
him, Mr. Rogers should have been named with the moral suasionists.
William Goodell, a prolific writer, a deep thinker, a man of great
industry, and whose large eyes indicate immense language, has labored
long and faithfully for justice and humanity.
John P. Hale was the first man to make a successful stand in Congress,
and he did his work nobly. His free-and-easy manner, his Falstaffian
fun, and Cromwellian courage, were always too much for Foote and his
Southern associates in the Senate, and in every contest for freedom the
New Hampshire Senator came off victorious. Mr. Hale is a large, fat,
social man, fine head, pleasing countenance, possessing much pungent
wit, irony, and sarcasm; able and eloquent in debate, and has always
been a true friend of negro freedom and elevation.
Charles Sumner had made his mark in favor of humanity, and especially
in behalf of the colored race, long before the doors of the United
States Senate opened to admit him as a member. In the year 1846,
he refused to lecture before a New Bedford lyceum, because colored
citizens were not allowed to occupy seats in common with the whites.
His lectures and speeches all had the ring of the right metal. His
career in Congress has been one of unsurpassed brilliancy. His
oratorical efforts in the capital of the nation equal anything ever
reported from the forums of Rome or Athens. Whatever is designed to
promote the welfare and happiness of the human race, Mr. Sumner has the
courage to advocate and defend to the last.
In firmness, he may be said to be without a rival on the floor of
the Senate, and has at times appeared a little dogged. However,
his foresight and sagacity show that he is generally in the right.
Mr. Sumner’s efforts in favor of reform have been ably seconded in
Congress by his colleague and friend, Henry Wilson, a man of the
people, and from the people. Without great educational attainments,
modest in his manners, never assuming aristocratic airs, plain, blunt,
yet gentlemanly, Mr. Wilson has always carried with him a tremendous
influence; and his speeches exhibit great research and much practical
common sense. He is a hard worker, and in that kind of industry which
is needed on committees, he is doubtless unequalled. As an old-time
Whig, a Free-soiler, and a Republican, Mr. Wilson has always been an
Abolitionist of the most radical stripe; and in Congress, has done as
much for negro emancipation, and the elevation of the blacks, as any
living man.
Foremost in his own State, as well as in Congress, for many years, was
that good old man, Thaddeus Stevens, an earnest friend of the poor man,
whether white or black. Strong in the consciousness of being right,
he never shrank from any encounter, and nobody said more in fewer
words, or gave to language a sharper bite, than he. On the question
of slavery, Mr. Stevens was uncompromisingly the negro’s friend and
faithful advocate.
Joshua R. Giddings, next to John Quincy Adams, was the first man, we
believe, that really stirred up the House of Representatives in behalf
of the slave. Mr. Giddings was a man without fear, entirely devoted to
the welfare of mankind; not an orator, in the accepted sense of the
term, but an able debater; ready in facts and illustrations, and always
to be relied upon when the Southerners attempted to encroach upon
freedom. Mr. Giddings never denied, even in the earlier days of the
agitation, that he was an Abolitionist.
George W. Julian, of Indiana, entered the halls of Congress as an enemy
of negro slavery, and, up to the present time, stands firm to his early
convictions.
Thomas Russell began life as a friend of negro emancipation, and
wherever his eloquent voice was heard, it gave no uncertain sound on
the subject of freedom. The Judge is a special favorite of the colored
men of Boston, and richly deserves it; for, as a Collector of Customs,
he has given employment to a large number of the proscribed class.
Charles W. Slack, the talented editor of “The Commonwealth,”--the
outspoken friend of liberty, whose gentlemanly deportment, polished
manners, and sympathetic heart extend to the negro the same cordial
welcome in his office that he gives to the white man,--is an old-time
Abolitionist. The colored clerk in his Revenue department is _prima
facie_ evidence that he has no prejudice against the negro. Both as
a speaker and a writer, Mr. Slack did the cause of the slave great
service, when it cost something to be a friend to the race.