ART. VI. Correspondence between the Hon. F. H. Elmore, one of the South Carolina Delegation in Congress, and James G. Birney, one of the Secretaries of the American Anti-Slavery Society. New York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society. 1838. 8vo. pp. 68.

THIS "Correspondence" marks a striking and important change in the course of the Anti-Slavery movement which pervades every part of our country. Hitherto all the efforts made at the North to induce the South to abolish Slavery, and more particularly the publications of the Anti-Slavery Societies, have been repulsed with indignation, and their entrance into the slaveholding states has been opposed by protestations, resolutions, and laws. Travellers from the North, if in any way suspected of abolition principles, have had their trunks opened in search of "incendiary" publications. Nay, in one of the principal southern cities, the sanctity of the public mail has been violated by a mob, headed by some of the most influential citizens; some papers addressed to slaveholders, admonishing the slaves to submission, and the masters to repentance, were condemned by this self-constituted court of inquisition to be burned by a public auto da fe; and finally, the proceeding was justified by the chief officer, to whose care the safety of the mail was entrusted by the General Government. The more effectually to prevent the discussion of this subject from affecting the mass of the people at the South, the freedom of debate and the right of petition were infringed in Congress; and the governors and legislatures of the free states were solicited by southern governments to repress, within their own jurisdiction, all associations, assemblies, and publications, having for their object the abolition of slavery in this country.

After all these and many other attempts of the slaveholding South, to prevent the advancing tide of northern " fanaticism from undermining the "corner-stone of the republican edifice;" after all the fierce denunciations and threats of dissolving the Union, we find the Representatives of the slaveholding states, at the last session of Congress, raising a committee "to ascertain the intentions and progress of the Anti-Slavery Associations ;" and the South Carolina member of this committee, in its behalf, addressing to the First Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society the following calm and respectful request

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for authentic information on this important subject. We quote Mr. Elmore's letter from the Pamphlet that stands at the head of this article.

"WASHINGTON CITY, FEB. 16, 1838.

"To JAS. G. BIRNEY, Esq., Cor. Sec. A. A. S. Soc.

"Sir: A letter from you to the Hon. John C. Calhoun, dated 29th January last, has been given to me, by him, in which you say, (in reference to the abolitionists or Anti-Slavery Societies,) we have nothing to conceal,- and should you desire any information as to our procedure, it will be cheerfully communicated on [my] being apprised of your wishes.' The frankness of this unsolicited offer indicates a fairness and honesty of purpose, which has caused the present communication, and which demands the same full and frank disclosure of the views with which the subjoined inquiries are proposed.

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"Your letter was handed to me, in consequence of a duty assigned me by my delegation, and which requires me to procure all the authentic information I can, as to the nature and intentions of yours and similar associations, in order that we may, we deem it advisable, lay the information before our people, so that they may be prepared to decide understandingly, as to the course it becomes them to pursue on this all-important question. If you have nothing to conceal,' and it is not imposing too much on, what may have been, an unguarded proffer, I will esteem your compliance as a courtesy to an opponent, and be pleased to have an opportunity to make a suitable return. And if, on the other hand, you have the least difficulty or objection, I trust you will not hesitate to withhold the information sought for, as I would not have it, unless as freely given, as it will, if deemed expedient, be freely used.

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"I am, Sir,

Your ob'd't serv't,

F. H. ELMORE, of S. C.”

Then follows a list of questions concerning the number, object, means, and income of the Anti-Slavery Societies in this country, and their connexion with similar foreign societies, to which Mr. Birney returns a full and minute reply, introduced by the following remarks.

"ANTI-SLAVERY OFFICE, New York, March 8, 1838. "Hon. F. H. ELMORE,

Member of Congress from S. Carolina :

"SIR, -I take pleasure in furnishing the information you have so politely asked for, in your letter of the 16th ult., in relation

to the American Anti-Slavery Society; and trust, that this correspondence, by presenting in a sober light the objects and measures of the Society, may contribute to dispel, not only from your mind, but if it be diffused throughout the South, - from the minds of our fellow-citizens there generally, a great deal of undeserved prejudice and groundless alarm. I cannot hesitate to believe, that such as enter on the examination of its claims to public favor, without bias, will find that it aims intelligently, not only at the promotion of the interests of the slave, but of the master, not only at the reanimation of the Republican principles of our Constitution, but at the establishment of the Union on an enduring basis."

The impression made by this reply may be judged of from a letter of Mr. Elmore to Mr. Birney, dated Washington, May 5, 1838, from which we extract these words.

"I was induced to enter into a correspondence with you, who, by your official station and intelligence, were known to be well informed on these points, and, from your well established character for candor and fairness, would make no statements of facts which were not known or believed by you to be true. To a great extent, my end has been accomplished by your replies to my inquiries.

"We differed no wider than I expected, but that difference has been exhibited courteously."

The history and character of Mr. Birney, who now holds the most responsible office in the American Anti-Slavery Society, has become more generally known in this part of our country, by the eloquent letter that the persecution, of which Mr. Birney was the innocent object, drew forth from one to whom until then he was a stranger. The letter of the Rev. Dr. William E. Channing to Mr. Birney, occasioned by the Cincinnati mob which destroyed his printing press and threatened his life, has been so extensively read and admired, that a simple reference to it is sufficient to induce every one of our readers to receive his statements, with the same confidence with which they were relied upon by his generous antagonist from South Carolina. The ability of Mr. Birney to judge of this subject in all its bearings will be doubted by no one, who knows that he was born and educated at the South, and held a high standing as a lawyer in Alabama, and in Kentucky; and that he was himself a slaveholder, and an efficient member and agent of the Colonization Society, until the perusal of Anti-Slavery publications im

pressed him with the duty of immediate emancipation. He liberated his slaves, who continued to work for him faithfully, as hired laborers; and relinquished his connexion with the Colonization Society, from a conviction of its obvious inability as well as professed unwillingness to extinguish, and its natural tendency to secure the existence of slavery in this country. Being persuaded that the preservation of our Union, and the still more important object for which the Union was formed, depended on the prevalence of those views of duty which he had adopted and acted out in the unconditional emancipation of his own slaves, Mr. Birney undertook the publication of the Philanthropist, at Cincinnati. Clearness of views, singleness of purpose, and devotion to the cause of humanity distinguished this publication. But while it engaged more and more the confidence and sympathy of the disinterested portion of the community, its growing popularity roused the selfish fears of those, who evidently thought more of the danger of offending their slaveholding customers and neighbors, than of the claims of their enslaved fellowmen, the liberty of the press, and the sacredness of the laws of a free state. The firmness, mildness, and Christian heroism which characterized Mr. Birney's conduct during the disgraceful reign of the Cincinnati mob, the lofty unconcern with which he continued to edit his paper under incessant threats, roused at last the community from their guilty indifference and delusion. The Philanthropist was gaining subscribers, not only in Ohio, but in every part of the country, when the American Anti-Slavery Society called for the services of its Editor, in the important office which he now holds.

We have made these remarks on the character of Mr. Birney, with a view to lay before our readers some of the statements contained in his correspondence with Mr. Elmore, concerning the present condition of the American Anti-Slavery Society,accompanied by remarks, for which it is hardly necessary to mention, no one except the author of this article is responsible. Our object is to present the Anti-Slavery cause in the light in which it appears to the Abolitionists.

The matter contained in the replies to the fourteen questions of Mr. Elmore, may be conveniently arranged under these heads.

I. What is the number of Abolitionists, and Anti-Slavery Societies in this country?

II. What is their object?

III. What are the means by which they intend to accomplish it?

IV. What are the probable effects of the events of the last year, and especially of the action of Congress, on the hopes and efforts of the Abolitionists?

V. What connexion is there between the Anti-Slavery Societies of this country, and similar foreign societies?

We shall confine our remarks to the subjects contained in the three first questions.

I. The number of societies affiliated with the American AntiSlavery Society, as reported at its last anniversary (on Tuesday immediately preceding the second Thursday in May) was one thousand three hundred and forty-six, averaging, according to the lowest estimate, not less than eighty members each, making an aggregate of one hundred and seven thousand six hundred and eighty.

"Those, who stand ready to join our societies on the first suitable occasion, may be set down as equal in number to those who are now actually members. Those, who are ready fully to cooperate with us in supporting the freedom of speech and the press, the right of petition, &c., may be estimated at double, if not treble, the joint numbers of those who already are members, and those who are ready to become members. The Recording Secretary of the MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY stated, a few weeks ago, that the Abolitionists in the various minor societies in that state, were one in thirty of the whole population. The proportion of Abolitionists to the whole population is greater in Massachusetts than in any other of the free states, except VERMONT, where the spirit of liberty has almost entirely escaped the corruptions which slavery has infused into it in most of her sister states, by means of commercial and other intercourse with them." p. 11.

Mr. Birney remarks that of late the multiplication of societies has not kept pace with the progress of Anti-Slavery principles, because in proportion as these pervade the mass of the people, the organization of societies is deemed less necessary.

It is, however, not uninteresting to consider the annual numeral increase of Abolition Societies, since the year 1832. It was then that the voice of one crying in the wilderness, waxing louder and louder in the general indifference, found a response in a few hearts. A small number of men, citizens of Boston,