Some Recollections of Our Antislavery ConflictMay, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph)
History
Some Recollections of Our Antislavery Conflict
May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph)
Antislavery movements -- United States
Or the 102d, by _Mrs. Chapman_:--
“Hark! hark! to the trumpet call,--
‘Arise in the name of God most high!’
On ready hearts the deep notes fall,
And firm and full is the strong reply:
‘The hour is at hand to do and dare!
Bound with the bondmen now are we!
We may not utter the patriot’s prayer,
Or bend in the house of God the knee!’”
Or that stirring song, by _Mr. Garrison_:--
“I am an Abolitionist;
I glory in the name.”
The singing of such hymns and songs as these was like the bugle’s blast
to an army ready for battle. No one seemed unmoved. If there were any
faint hearts amongst us, they were hidden by the flush of excitement
and sympathy.
In 1838 or 1839 Mrs. Chapman, assisted by her sisters, the Misses
Weston, and Mrs. Child, commenced the publication of _The Liberty
Bell_. A volume with this title was issued annually by them for ten or
twelve years, especially for sale at the yearly antislavery fair. These
volumes were full of poetry in prose and verse. The editors levied
contributions upon the true-hearted of other countries besides our
own, and enriched their pages with articles from the pens of all the
above-named, and from Whittier, Pierpont, Lowell, Longfellow, Phillips,
Quincy, Clarke, Sewall, Adams, Channing, Bradburn, Pillsbury, Rogers,
Wright, Parker, Stowe, Emerson, Furness, Higginson, Sargent, Jackson,
Stone, Whipple, our own countrymen and women; and Bowring, Martineau,
Thompson, Browning, Combe, Sturge, Webb, Lady Byron, and others, of
England; and Arago, Michelet, Monod, Beaumont, Souvestre, Paschoud, and
others, of France. It would not be easy to find elsewhere so full a
treasury of mental and moral jewels.
The names of most of our illustrious American poets appear in The
_Liberty Bell_ more or less frequently. To all of them we were and are
much indebted. James Russell Lowell was never, I believe, a member of
the Antislavery Society. He was seldom seen at our meetings. But his
muse rendered us essential services. His poems--“The Present Crisis,”
“On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves near Washington,” “On the Death of
Charles T. Torrey,” “To John G. Palfrey,” and especially his “Lines
to William L. Garrison,” and his “Stanzas sung at the Antislavery
Picnic in Dedham, August 1, 1843”--committed him fully to the cause of
freedom,--the cause of our enslaved countrymen.
Rev. John Pierpont gave us his hand at an earlier day. He took upon
himself “our reproach” in 1836, when we most needed help. I have
already made grateful mention of his “Word from a Petitioner,” sent
to me by the hand of the heroic Francis Jackson in the midst of the
convention of the constituents of Hon. J. Q. Adams, called at Quincy to
assure their brave, invincible representative of their deep, admiring
sense of obligation to him for his persistent and almost single-handed
defence of the sacred right of petition on the floor of Congress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account