cause was just that God was on their side; and they were sure that, whatever of reproach, persecution or violence they might be called to endure, the cause would eventually triumph. They were resolved to act a worthy part, as men and Christians who loved their country, and who meant, by the help of God, to deliver it from the crime and curse of human bondage. And so they held their Convention.

IX.

Formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society - Character and Spirit of the Convention - The Declaration of Sentiments Drafted by Garrison - Close of the Convention - The Society Begins its Work - Headquarters in New York - The First Anniversary - The Bible Society Tested and Found WantingHostility of the Press - Attitude of the Churches - Apologies for Slavery Mobs - Judge Jay W. I. Emancipation.

--

THE National Convention which met in Philadelphia Dec. 4, 1833, to form the American Anti-Slavery Society, was a very remarkable body of men, and its proceedings were of the highest interest and importance from their bearing upon the progress of the cause and the welfare of the nation. It was composed of sixty-two delegates from eleven different States. Without a single exception, I believe, they were Christian men, most of them members, and a dozen or so ministers of evangelical or Orthodox churches. Only two or three of the small denomination of Unitarians were present, but one of these, the late Samuel J. May, was a host in himself. Both branches of the Society of Friends, Orthodox and Hicksite, were represented. I was not myself a member of the Convention. Before it was called I left Boston for a visit to Ohio, under circumstances which made my attendance impossible. This to me has been a subject of life-long regret, for no public gathering during the whole antislavery struggle was more memorable than this. It was composed of men, most of whom had never seen each other before, but who were drawn together by convictions and purposes as high as any that ever animated the human soul. They were of one heart and

one mind, their bond of union being the common love of freedom which the founders of the Republic declared to be inalienable, and which is of the very soul and substance of Christianity; a common hatred of a system which made merchandise of humanity, and a common purpose to do what they might, by the help of God, to deliver their country from such a crime and curse. They knew that they were undertaking no holiday task. They saw the black cloud that was gathering around them, and heard the mutterings of the storm that was so soon to burst upon their devoted heads. Philadelphia, then a Southern city in its sympathies, met them with angry frowns. The press teemed with misrepresentations and menaces that fell upon the Southern hot-bloods gathered in the medical schools, and upon other mobocratic elements of the population, as sparks upon tinder. The very air of the city was sulphurous, ready at any moment to burst into a devouring flame. They were officially warned to hold no evening meetings; the Mayor could only assure them protection in the daytime! This in the city of "Brotherly Love," whence issued, but fiftyseven years before, the Declaration of American Independence! In such circumstances we need not wonder that some of the delegates, at a preliminary conference, resolved, if possible, to persuade some distinguished and well-known citizen of the city, whose name might be a shield, to act as president of the Convention. Thomas Wister and Robert Vaux, two eminent philanthropists, Quakers both, were successively waited upon, and earnestly entreated to accept the position, but they both declined. Robert Vaux was the one last applied to, but, though he was a professed Abolitionist, he could not be persuaded to face the gathering storm. When the committee retired from his house they were conscious that they had at least gone quite as far in their search for a distinguished

presiding officer as their self-respect would allow; and Beriah Green said, in a sarcastic tone, "If there is not timber amongst ourselves big enough to make a president of let us get along without one, or go home and stay there till we have grown up to be men."

The delegates, on their way to the Adelphi Building, where the Convention was held, says Samuel J. May, "were repeatedly assailed with most insulting words." As they passed through the door, guarded by a body of policemen, and took their seats in the hall, we need not wonder if they were awed by a sense of the greatness of their task and of their need of Divine help. If I may believe the testimony of some who were present, the disciples of Jesus, when they were assembled together after the crucifixion, to consider what they should do for the propagation of the Christian faith, were no more solemn, tender or prayerful in their mood, than were the members of this Convention in view of the work before them. In such an hour men forget all the petty differences of sect and party, and remember only their humanity and the sacredness of their work. "Never," says Samuel J. May, "have I seen men so ready, so anxious to rid themselves of whatsoever was narrow, selfish or merely denominational. If ever there was a praying assembly, I believe that was one." After a fervent prayer, in which all the members seemed to unite, the Convention was organized by the appointment of the Rev. Beriah Green, of Whitesboro, N. Y., as President, and Wm. Green, Jr., and John G. Whittier as Secretarics. After a free and somewhat informal interchange of thought, it was unanimously agreed that the time had come for the organization of a National Society, and committees were appointed to draft a Constitution and nominate officers. The reports of these committees occupied the Convention during the afternoon. The object of the new Society, as set forth in the

Constitution, was "the entire abolition of slavery in the United States." While admitting that each State had exclusive right to legislate in regard to its abolition, it avowed its aim to be to convince the people of the slave States by arguments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slaveholding was a heinous sin against God, and that duty and safety required its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. It maintained the duty of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and the trade in slaves between the several States, and urged the duty of elevating the character and condition of the free people of color. It pledged the Society, moreover, to discountenance the use of force to secure the freedom of the slaves. From this it will be seen that the members of the Convention were fully aware of all the limitations of the United States Constitution, and that it called upon the National Government to exercise only such powers in relation to slavery as, by the common consent of statesmen of all parties, up to that time, it possessed. It is important to observe this, since the Abolitionists were charged by their opponents with an unintelligent and reckless zeal that overleaped all the barriers of the Constitution, and would free the slaves by means which that instrument forbade. The discussions in Congress and in the newspapers, so far as our opponents were concerned, went on for years upon this false assumption. The slaveholders and their apologists knew that they could resist us successfully only by appeals to popular ignorance and prejudice, and by exciting a wild clamor, in the midst of which the reasonableness of our purposes and plans should be overlooked.

But the Constitution of the Society, as an exposition of its principles, purposes and plans, was thought to be insufficient. It was instinctively felt that there was need of a document of a more imposing character,