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LETTER 
 
 OF 
 
 DR. WILLIAM E. CHANNING 
 
 JAMES G. BIRNEY. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 PRINTED BY A. PUGH, 
 1836. 
 
£4 4-9 
 
 
BOSTON, November 1st, 1836. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I have not the pleasure of knowing you personally; but your 
 history and writings have given me an interest in you which indu- 
 ces and encourages me to address you with something of the freedom 
 of acquaintance. I feel myself attracted to the friends of humanity, 
 and freedom, however distant; and when such are exposed by their 
 principles to peril, and loss, and stand firm in the evil day, I take 
 pleasure in expressing to them my sympathy and admiration. The 
 first accounts which reached me of the violence which drove you 
 from Cincinnati inclined me to write to you; but your "Narrative of 
 those riotous proceedings," which I have lately received and read, 
 does not permit me to remain longer silent. The subject weighs 
 much on my mind. I feel that I have a duty to perform in relation 
 to it, and I cannot rest till I yield to this conviction till I obey what 
 seems to me the voice of God. I think it best, however, not to con- 
 fine myself to the outrage at Cincinnati, but to extend my remarks to 
 the spirit of violence and persecution, which has broken out against 
 the Abolitionists through the whole country. This, I know, will be 
 more acceptable to you, than any expression of sympathy with you 
 as an individual. You look beyond yourself to the cause which you 
 have adopted, and to the much injured body of men, with whom you 
 are associated. 
 
 It is not my purpose to speak of the abolitionists as abolitionists. 
 They now stand before the world in another character, and to this I 
 shall give my present attention. Of their merits, and demerits as 
 abolitionists, I have formerly spoken. In my short work on Slavery, 
 I have expressed my fervent attachment to the great end to which 
 they are pledged, and at the same time my disapprobation of their 
 spirit and measures. I have no disposition to travel over this ground 
 again. Had the abolitionists been left to pursue their object with the 
 freedom which is guarantied to them by our civil institutions; had 
 they been resisted only by those_weapons of reason, rebuke, reproba- 
 tion which the laws allow, I should have no inducement to speak of 
 them again either in praise or censure. But the violence of their 
 adversaries has driven them to a new position. Abolitionism forms 
 an era in our history, if we consider the means by which it has been 
 opposed. Deliberate, systematic efforts have been made not once or 
 twice, but again and again, to wrest from its adherents that liberty 
 of speech and the press, which our fathers asserted unto blood, and 
 
4 
 
 which our national and state governments are pledged to protect as 
 our most sacred right. Its most conspicuous advocates have been 
 hunted and stoned, its meetings scattered, its presses broken up, and 
 notliing but the patience, constancy, and intrepidity of its members 
 have saved it from extinction. The abolitionists then not only ap- 
 pear in the character of champions of the colored race. In their per- 
 sons the most sacred rights of the white man, and the free man have 
 been assailed. They are sufferers for the liberty of thought, speech 
 and the press, and in maintaining this liberty amidst insult, and vio- 
 lence they deserve a place among its most honored defenders. In 
 this character I shall now speak of them. 
 
 In regard to the methods adopted by the abolitionists of promoting 
 emancipation, I might find much to censure; but when I regard their 
 firm, fearless assertion of the rights of free discussion, of speech and 
 the press, I look on them with unmixed respect. I see nothing to 
 blame, and much to admire. To them has been committed the most 
 important bulwark of liberty, and they have acquitted themselves of 
 the trust like men and Christians. No violence has driven them from 
 their post. Whilst in obedience to conscience, they have refrained 
 from opposing force to force, they have still persevered amidst me- 
 nace, and insult in bearing their testimony against wrong, in giving 
 utterance to their deep convictions. Of such men, I do not hesitate 
 to say, that they have rendered to freedom a more essential service, 
 than any body of men among us. The defenders of freedom are not 
 those, who claim and exercise rights which no one assails, or who win 
 shouts of applause by well turned compliments to liberty in the days 
 of her triumph. They are those, who stand up for rights which 
 mobs, conspiracies, or single tyrants put in jeopardy; who contend 
 for liberty in that particular form, which is threatened at the moment 
 by the many or the few. To the abolitionists this honor belongs. 
 The first systematic effort to strip the citizen of freedom of speech 
 they have met with invincible resolution. From my heart I thank 
 them. I am myself their debtor. I know not that I should this mo- 
 ment write in safety, had they shrunk from the conflict, had they shut 
 their lips, imposed silence on their presses, and hid themselves before 
 their ferocious assailants. I know not where these outrages would 
 have stopped, had they not met resistance from their first destined 
 victims. The newspaper press, with few exceptions, uttered no gen- 
 uine indignant rebuke of the wrong-doers, but rather countenanced 
 by its gentle censures the reign of Force. The mass of the people 
 looked supinely on this new tyranny under which a portion of their 
 fellow -citizens seemed to be sinking. A tone of denunciation was 
 beginning to proscribe all discussion of slavery; and had the spirit of 
 
violence, which selected associations as its first objects, succeeded in 
 this preparatory enterprise, it might have been easily turned against 
 any and every individual, who might presume to agitate the unwel- 
 come subject. It is hard to say, to what outi-age the fettered press of 
 the country, might not have been reconciled. I thank the abolition- 
 ists, that in this evil day, they were true to the rights which the 
 multitude were ready to betray. Their purpose to suffer, to die, la- 
 ther than surrender their dearest liberties, taught the lawless, that 
 they had a foe to contend with, whom it was not safe to press, whilst, 
 like all manly appeals, it called forth reflection and sympathy in the 
 better portion of the community. In the name of freedom, and hu- 
 manity I thank them. Through their courage, the violence, which 
 might have furnished a precedent fatal to freedom, is to become, I 
 trust, a warning to the lawless, of the folly as well as crime of at- 
 tempting to crush opinion by Force. 
 
 Of all powers, the last to be entrusted to the multitude of men, is 
 that of determining what questions shall be discussed. The greatest 
 truths are often the most unpopular, and exasperating; and were they 
 to be denied discussion, till the many should be ready to accept them, 
 they would never establish themselves in the general mind. The 
 progress of society, depends on nothing more, than on the exposure 
 of time-sanctioned abuses, which cannot be touched without offend- 
 ing multitudes, than on the promulgation of principles which are in 
 advance of pubhc sentiment and practice, and which are consequent- 
 ly at war with the habits, prejudices, and immediate interests of large 
 classes of the community. Of consequence, the multitude, if once 
 allowed to dictate, or proscribe subjects of discussion, would strike 
 society with spiritual blindness, and death. The world is to be car- 
 ried forward by truth, which at first offends, which wins its way by 
 degrees, which the many hate and would rejoice to crush. The right 
 of free discussion is therefore to be guarded by the friends of mankind, 
 with peculiar jealousy. It is at once the most sacred, and the most 
 endangered of all our rights. He who would rob his neighbor of it, 
 should have a mark set on him as the worst enemy of freedom. 
 
 I do not know that our history contains a page, more disgraceful 
 to us as freemen, than that which records the violences against the 
 abolitionists. As a people, we are chargeable with other and v^^orse 
 misdeeds, but none so flagrantly opposed to the spirit of liberty, the 
 very spirit of our institutions, and of which we make our chief boast. 
 Who, let me ask are the men, whose offences are so aggravated that 
 they must be denied the protection of the laws, and be given up to 
 the worst passions of the multitude] Are they profligate in principle 
 and life, teachers of impious, or servile doctrines, the enemies of 
 
God and their race ! I speak not from vague rumour, but from better 
 means of knowledge when I say, that a body of men and women 
 more blameless than the abolitionists in their various relations, or 
 more 'disposed to adopt a rigid construction of the Christian precepts, 
 cannot be found among us. Of their judiciousness and wisdom, I do 
 not speak; but I believe, they yield to no party in moral worth. 
 Their great crime, and one, which in this land of liberty is to be 
 punished above all crimes, is this, that they carry the doctrine of hu- 
 man equahty to its full extent, that they plead vehemently for the op- 
 pressed, that they, assail wrong-doing, however sanctioned by opin- 
 ion, or entrenched behind wealth and power, that their zeal for hu- 
 man rights is without measure, that they associate themselves fer- 
 vently with the Christians and philanthropists of other countries 
 against the worst relics of barbarian times. Such is the offence, 
 against which mobs are arrayed and which is counted so flagrant, 
 that a summary justice, too indignant to wait for the tardy progress of 
 tribunals, must take the punishment into its own hands. 
 
 How strange in a free country that the men from whom the liberty 
 of speech is to be torn, are those who use it in pleading for freedom, 
 who devote themselves to the vindication of human rights! What a 
 spectacle is presented to the world by a republic, in which sentence 
 of proscription is passed on citizens, who labour, by addressing men's 
 consciences, to enforce the truth, that slavery is the greatest of 
 wrongs! Through the civilized world, the best and greatest men are 
 bearing joint witness against slavery. Christians of all denomina- 
 tions, and conditions, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, are bound 
 in a holy league against this most degrading form of oppression. But 
 in free America, the language which despots tolerate, must not be 
 heard.- One would think, that freemen might be pardoned, if the 
 view of fellow-creatures stripped of ail human rights should move 
 them to vehemence of speech. But whilst on all other subjects, the 
 deeply stirred feelings may overflow in earnest remonstrance, on sla- 
 very the freemen must speak in whispers, or pay the penalty of per- 
 secution for the natural utterance of strong emotion. 
 
 I am aware, that the outrages on the abolitionists are justified or 
 palliated by various considerations; nor is this surprising; for when 
 did violence ever want excuse] It is said, that abolitionism tends to 
 stir up insurrection at the South, and to dissolve the Union. Of all 
 pretences for resorting to lawless force, the most dangerous is the 
 /en<:?e?!cy of measures or opinions. Almost all n: en see ruinous ten- 
 dencies in whatever opposes their particular interests, or views. All 
 the political parties which have convulsed our country, have seen 
 tendencies to national destruction in the principles of their oppo- 
 
neuts. So infinite are the connexions and consequences of human 
 affairs, that nothing can be done in which some dangerous tendency 
 may not be detected. There is a tendency in arguments against any 
 old estabhshment to unsettle all institutions, because all hang to- 
 gether. There is a tendency in the laying bare of deep-rooted abuses 
 to throw a community into a storm. Liberty tends to hcentiousness, 
 government to despotism. Exclude all enterprises which'may^have 
 evil results, and human life will stagnate. Wise men are not easily 
 deterred by dilEculties, and perils, from a course of action, which 
 promises great good. Especially when justice, and humanity cry 
 aloud for the removal of an enormous social evil, it is unworthy of 
 men, and Christians, to let the imagination run riot among possible 
 dangers, instead of rousing every energy of mind to study how the 
 evil may be taken away and the perils which accompany beneficial 
 charges may be escaped. 
 
 As to the charge brought against the abolitionists of stirring up in- 
 surrection at the South, — I have never met the shadow of a proof 
 that this nefarious project was meditated by a single member of their 
 body. The accusation is repelled by their characters and principles 
 as well as by facts; nor can I easily conceive of a sane man giving it 
 belief. As to the "tendency" of their measures to this result, it is 
 such only as we have seen to belong to all human affairs, and such 
 as may easily be guarded against. The truth is, that any exposition 
 of Slavery, no matter from whom it may come, may chance to favor 
 revolt. It may chance to fall into the hands of a fanatic, who may 
 think himself summoned by Heaven to remove violently this great 
 wrong; or it may happen to reach the hut of some intelligent daring 
 slave, who may think himself called to be the avenger of his race. 
 All things are possible. A casual, innocent remark in conversation, 
 may put wild projects 'into the unbalanced, or disordered mind of 
 some hearer. Must we then live in perpetual silencel Do such 
 chances make it our duty to shut our lips on the subject of an enor- 
 mous wrong, and never to send from the press a reprobation of the 
 evilT The truth is, that the great danger to the slave-holder, comes 
 from slavery itself, from the silent innovations of time, from political 
 conflicts and convulsions and not from the writings of strangers. I 
 readily grant that the abolitionists, in consequence of their number 
 and their systematic and public efforts, are more likely to be heard 
 of by the slave, than a solitary individual who espouses his cause. 
 But when I consider, how steadily they have condemned the resort to 
 force on the part of the oppressed; when I consider what power the 
 master possesses of excluding incendiary influences, if such are 
 threatened from abroad; when I remember, 'that during the late 
 
unparalleled excitement at the South, not a symptom of revolt appear- 
 ed; and when to all this, I add'the strongly manifested purpose of the 
 free states to put forth their power, if required, for the suppression of 
 insurrection, it seems to me that none but the most delicate nerves 
 can be disturbed by the movements of the abolitionists. Can any 
 man, who has a sense of character, affect to believe, that the tenden- 
 cy of abolitionism to stir up a servile war, is so palpable, and resist- 
 less, as to require the immediate application of Force for its suppres- 
 sion, as to demand the substitution of mobs for the action of law, as 
 to justify the violation of the most sacred right of the citizen] 
 
 As to the other charge, that the measures of the abolitionists en- 
 danger our National Union, and must therefore be put down by any 
 and every means, it is weaker than the former. Against whom has 
 not this charge been hurled? What party emong us has not been 
 loaded with this reproach'? Do we not at the North almost unanimous- 
 ly believe, that the spirit and measures of Nullification have a direct 
 and immediate tendency to dissolve the Union'? But are we^ there- 
 fore authorized to silence the nuUifier by violence'? Should a leader 
 of that party travel among us, is he to be mobbedl Let me farther 
 ask, how is it, that the abolitionists endanger the Union'? The only 
 reply, which I have heard is, that they exasperate the South. And 
 is it a crime to exasperate men? Who then so criminal as the Foun- 
 der and primitive teachers of our faith'? Have we yet to learn, that 
 in cases of exasperation the blame is as apt to lie with those who 
 take, as with those who give offence'? How strange the doctrine, 
 that men are to be proscribed for uttering language which gives of- 
 fence, are to be outlawed for putting their neighbours into a passion! 
 Let it also be considered, that the abolitionists are not the only peo- 
 ple who exasperate the South. Can the calmest book be written on 
 Slavery, without producing the same effecf? Can the Chief Justice 
 of Massachusetts expound the constitution and laws of that common- 
 wealth according to their free spirit, and of course in opposition to 
 Slavery, without awakening indignation? Is not the doctrine, that 
 Congress has the right of putting an end to Slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, denounced as fiercely as the writings and harangues of 
 abolitionists? Where then shall mobs stop, if the crime of exasperat- 
 ing the South is so heinous as to deserve their vengeance? If the 
 philanthropist, and Christian nmst be silenced on the subject of 
 Slavery, lest they wound the sensitive ears of the South, ought the 
 judge, and legislator to be spared? Who 'does not see that these 
 apologies for lawless force, if they have any validity, will bring every 
 good man under its iron sway7 
 In these remarks you learn my abhorrence of the violence offered 
 
to the abolitionists, and my admiration of the spirit they have opposed 
 to it. May they vindicate to the end the rights which in tlieir per- 
 sons have been outraged. Allow me now to express my earnest de- 
 sire and hope, that the abolitionists will maintain the liberty of speech 
 and the press, not only by asserting it firmly, but by using it wisely, 
 deliberately, generously, and under the control of the severest moral 
 principle. It is my earnest desire, that they will exercise it in the 
 spirit of Christians and philanthropists, with a supreme love of truth, 
 without passion, or bitterness, and without that fanaticism which 
 cannnot discern the true proportions of things, which exaggerates 
 or distorts whatever favors or conflicts with its end, which sees no 
 goodness except in its own ranks, which shuts itsilf up in one ob- 
 ject, and is blind to all besides. Liberty suffers from nothing more, 
 than from licentiousness, and I fear that abolitionists are not to be ab- 
 solved from this abuse of it. It seems to me that they are particularly, 
 open to one reproach. Their writings have been blemished by a spir- 
 it of intolerance, sAveeping censure, and rash injurious judgment. I 
 do not mean to bring this charge against all their publications. Yours, 
 as far as I have seen them, are an honorable exception, and others, I 
 know, deserve the same praise. Eut abol tionism in the main, has 
 spoken in an intolerant tone, and in this way has repelled many 
 good minds, given great advantage to its opponents, and diminished 
 the energy, and efiect of its appeals. I should rejoice to see it puri- 
 fied from this stain. 
 
 Abolitionism seems to me to have been intolerant towards the slave- 
 holders, and towards those in the free states who oppose them, or 
 who refuse to take part in their measures. I say, first, towards the 
 slave-holder. The abolitionist has not spoken, and cannot speak 
 against slavery too strongly. No language can exceed the enormity 
 of the wrong. But the whole class of slave-holders often meets a 
 treatment in anti-slavery publications which is felt to be unjust, and 
 is certainly unwise. We always injure ourselves in placing our ad- 
 versary on the footing of an injured man. One groundless charge 
 helps him to repel many which are true. There is indeed a portion of 
 slave-holders who deserve the severest reprobation. In every such 
 community, there are many, who hold their fellow creatures in bon- 
 dage for gain, for mere gain. They perpetuate this odious system not 
 reluctantly, but from choice, not because the public safety compels 
 them, as they think, to act the part of despots, but because they love 
 despotism, and count money their supreme good. Provided they can 
 be supported in ease and indulgence, can be pampered, and enriched , 
 they care not for the means. They care not what wrongs or stripes 
 are inflicted, what sweat is extorted, what powers of the immortal 
 2 
 
to 
 
 6oul are crushed. For such men no rebuke can be too oevere. ll 
 any vehemence of language can pierce tlieir consciences let it be us- 
 ed. The man who holds slaves for gain, is the worst of robbers, for 
 he selfishly robs his fellow-creatures not only of their property, but of 
 themselves. He is the worst of tyrants, for whilst absolute govern- 
 ments spoil men of civil, he strips them of personal riglrts. But I 
 do not, cannot believe that the majority of slave-holders are of the 
 character now described. I believe that the majority, could they be 
 persuaded of the consistency of emancipation with the well-being of 
 the colored race and with social order, would relinquish their hold 
 on the slave, and sacrifice their imagined property in him to the 
 claims of justice, and humanity. They shrink from emancipation, 
 because it seems to them a precipice. Having seen the colored man 
 continually dependant on foreign guidance and control, they think 
 him incapable of providing for himself. Having seen the laboring 
 class kept down by force, they feel as if the removal of his restraint 
 would be a signal to universal lawlessness and crime. That such 
 opinions absolve from all blame those who perpetuate slavery, I do 
 not say. That they are often strengthened by the self-interest of the 
 master, I cannot doubt, for we see men every where grasping and 
 defending doctrines which confirm their property and power. I ac- 
 knowledge too, that the ready, unhesitating acquiescence of the 
 slave-holder in such loose notions, especially at the present moment, 
 is a bad symptom. In the present age, when a flood of light has been 
 thrown on the evils of slavery, and when the whole civilized world 
 cries out against it as the greatest of wrongs; and in this country, 
 where the doctrine of human rights has been expounded by the pro- 
 foundest minds, and sealed with the best blood, a fearful responsibili- 
 ty is assumed by masters, who, pronouncing emancipation hopeless, 
 make no serious, anxious enquiry after the means of accomplishing it, 
 and no serious effort to remove the supposed unfitness of the slave for 
 freedom. Still while there is much to be condemned in the prevalent 
 opinions, and feelings at the South, we have no warrant ibr denying 
 to all slave-holders moral and religious excellence. The whole his- 
 tory of the world shows us, that a culpable blindness in regard to one 
 class of obligations, may consist with a sincere reverence for religious 
 and moral principles, as far as they are understood. In estimating 
 men's characters we must never forget the disadvantages under which 
 Ihey labor. Slavery, upheld as it is at the South, by the deepest preju- 
 dices of education, by the sanction of laws, by the prescription of ages, 
 and by real difficulties attending emancipation cannot easily be view- 
 ed in that region as it appears to more distant and impartial obser- 
 vers. The hatefulness of the system ought to be strongly exposed, and 
 
11 
 
 it cannot be exposed too strongly, but this haletulness must not be 
 attached to all wlio sustain slavery. There are pure and generous 
 spirits at the South, and they are to be honored the more for the sore 
 trials amidst which their virtues have gained strength. The aboli- 
 tionists in their zeal, seem to have overlooked these truths in a 
 great degree, and by their intolerance towards the slave-holder, have 
 awakened towards him sympathy rather than indignation, and weak- 
 ened the effect of their just invectives against the system which he 
 upholds. 
 
 I think too that they are chargeable with a like intolerance towards 
 those in the free states, who oppose them, or who refuse to partici- 
 pate in their operations. They have been apt to set down opposition 
 to themselves as equivalent to attachment to slavery. Regarding 
 their own dogma's as the only true faith, and making their own zea^ 
 the standard of a true interest in the oppressed, they have been apt 
 to cast scornful looks and reproaches on those who have spoken in 
 doubt or displeasure of their movements. This has made them many 
 foes. They have been too belligerent to make friends. I do not mean 
 in these remarks, that the abolitionists have had nothing to blame in 
 their opponents. Among these are not a few deserving severe repre- 
 hension, and I have no desire to shield them from it. Eut the great 
 mass, who have refused to take part in the anti-slavery movement, 
 have been governed by pure motives. If they have erred, they have 
 not erred willingly, or from the influence of low and servile passions. 
 They have consequently been wronged by the treatment they have 
 received, at the hands of Abolitionists, and men are not brought over 
 by wrongs to a good cause. 
 
 I have said that I have no desire to shield the unworthy among our- 
 selves. We have those whose opposition to Abolitionism has been 
 wicked, and merits reprobation. Such are to be found in all classes, 
 forming indeed a minority in each, yet numerous enough to deserve 
 attention, and to do much harm. Such are to be found in what is 
 called the highest class of society, that is, among the rich, and fash- 
 ionable, and the cause is obvious. The rich, and fashionable belong 
 to the same caste with the slaveholder, and men are apt to sympathise 
 with their own caste more readily than with those beneath them. The 
 slaA'e is too low, vulgar, to awaken interest in those, who abhor 
 vulgarity more than oppression, and crime, and who found all their 
 self-admiration on the rank they occupy in the social scale. Far be 
 it from me to charge on the rich or fashionable as a class tliis moral 
 degradation; but among them are the worshippers of high degree, 
 who would think their dignity soiled, by touching the cause of the 
 
12 
 
 menial, degraded race, and who load its advocates with ridicule and 
 scorn . 
 
 Then, in the commercial class, there are unworthy opposers of Abo- 
 litionism. There are those, whose interests rouse them to withstand 
 every movement, v/hich may offend the South. They have profita- 
 ble connexions with the slaveholder, which must not be endangered 
 by expressions of sympathy with the slave. Gain is their God, and 
 they sacrifice on this altar, Avithout compunction, the rights and hap- 
 piness of their fellow-creatures. To snch, the philanthropy, which 
 would break every chain, is fanaticism, or a pretence. Nothing in 
 their own souls helps them to comprehend the fervor of men, who 
 feel for the wronged, and can hazard property, and life in exposing 
 the wrong. Your "Narrative of the riotous proceedings at Cincin- 
 nati," shews, to what a fearful extent, the spirit of humanity, jus- 
 tice, and freedom may be supplanted by the accursed lust of gain. 
 This, however, cannot surprise us. Our present civilization is char- 
 acterized, and tainted by a devouring, greediness of wealth, and a 
 cause which asserts right against wealth must stir up bitter opposi- 
 tion, especially in cities where this divinity is most adored. Every 
 large city will furnish those who would sooner rivet the chain on the 
 slave, than lose a commission, or retrench an expenditure. I would 
 on no account intimate that such men constitute the majority of the 
 commercial class. I rejoice to know that a more honorable spirit pre- 
 vails in the community which falls more immediately under my no- 
 tice. Still, the passion for gain is every where sapping pure, and 
 generous feehng, and every where raises up bitter foes against any 
 reform which may threaten to turn aside a stream of wealth. I 
 sometimes feel, as if a great social revolution were necessary to break 
 up our present mercenary civilization, in order that Christianity, now 
 repelled by the almost universal worldliness, may come into new 
 contact with the soul, and may reconstruct society, after its own 
 pure and disinterested principles. 
 
 In another class, which contains many excellent people, may also 
 be found unworthy opposers of all anti-slavery movements. I refer 
 to the Conservative class, to those who are tremljlingly alive to the 
 spirit of innovation, now abroad in the world, who have little or no 
 faith in human progress, who are anxious to secure what is now 
 gained rather than to gain more, to whom that watchword of the 
 times, Reform, sounds like a knell. Among these are to be found 
 individuals, who, from no benevolent interest in society, but simply 
 because they have drawn high prizes in the lottery of life, are un- 
 willing that the most enormous abuses should be touched, lest the 
 established order of things, so propitious to themselves, should be 
 
13 
 
 disturbed. A palsying, petifying order, keeping things as they are, 
 seems to them the Ideal of a perfect community, and they have no 
 patience with the rude cry of reformers for the restoration of human 
 beings to their long-lost rights. 
 
 I will only add the politicians, as another class, which has furnish- 
 ed selfish assailants of Abolitionism. Among our politicians are 
 men, who legard public life as a charmed circle, into which moral 
 principle nmst not enter, who know no law but expediency, who are 
 prepared to kiss the feet of the South for Southern votes, and who 
 stand ready to echo all the vituperations of the slaveholder against 
 the active enemies of slavery in the free States. 
 
 For these various descriptions of selfish opponents of Abolitionism, 
 I make no apology. Let them be visited with just rebuke. But they 
 after all form but a small part of that great body in the free states, 
 who look on the present anti-slavery movement with distrust and 
 disapprobation. The vast majority in the free states who refuse 
 communion with you are not actuated by base considerations. The 
 fear of a servile war, the fear of political convulsions, a perception of 
 the difficulties of great social changes, self-distrust, a dread of rash- 
 ness, these, and the like motives, have great influence in deterring 
 multitudes from giving their countenance to what seem to them, 
 violent movements for the abolition of slavery. That a culpable in- 
 sensibility to the evils and wrongs of this nefarious institution is too 
 common in the class of which I now speak, I do not mean to deny. 
 Still, how vast a proportion of the intelligence, virtue, piety of the 
 country is to be found in their ranks. To speak of them slightly, 
 contemptuously, bitterly, is to do great wrong, and such speaking, I 
 fear, has brought much reproach on Abolitionism. 
 
 The motives which have induced me to make this long communi- 
 cation to you, will not, I trust, be misunderstood. I earnestly de- 
 sire, my dear Sir, that you, and your associates will hold fast the 
 right of free discussion by speech, and the press, and at the same 
 time that you will exercise it as Christians, and as friends of your 
 race. That you, Sir, will not fail in these duties, I rejoice to believe. 
 Accept my humble tribute of respect, and admiration for your disin- 
 terestedness, for your faithfulness to your convictions, under the pe- 
 culiar sacrifices to which you have been called. It is my prayer, 
 that by calm, fearless, perseverance in well-doing you may guide and 
 incite many to a like virtue. 
 
 It may be said, that it is easy for one, living as I do, at a distance 
 from danger, living in prosperity and eese, to preach exposure and 
 suffering to you, and your friends. I can only say in reply, that I lay 
 down no rule for others which I do not feel to be binding on myself. 
 
14 
 
 What I should do in the hour of peril, may be uncertain; but what I 
 ought to do, is plain. What I desire to do, is known to the searcher 
 of all hearts. It is my earnest desire that prosperity may not un- 
 nerve me, that no suffering may shake my constancy in a cause which 
 my heart approves. I sometimes indeed fear for myself when I think 
 of untried persecutions. I know not what weaknesses the presence 
 of great danger may call forth. But in my most deliberate moments, 
 I see nothing worth living for, but the divine virtue which endures 
 and surrenders all things for truth, duty and mankind. I look on re- 
 proach, poverty, persecution, and death as light evils compared with 
 unfaithfulness to pure and generous principles, to the spirit of Christ, 
 and to the will of God. With these impressions, I ought not to be de- 
 terred by self-distrust, or by my distance from danger, from summon- 
 ing and cheering others to conflict with evil. Christianity, as I re- 
 gard it, is designed throughout to fortify us for this warfare. Its 
 great lesson is self-sacrifice. Its distinguishing spirit is Divine Phi- 
 lanthropy suffering on the cross. The Cross, the Cross, this is the 
 badge, and standard of our religion — I honor all who bear it — I look 
 with scorn on the selfish greatness of this world, and with pity on 
 the most gifted and prosperous in the struggle for office and power, 
 but I look with reverence on the obscurest man, who suffers for the 
 Right, who is true to a good but persecuted cause. 
 With these sentiments, I subscribe myself 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 WILLIAM E. CHANNING. 
 
 54 W 
 
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