Letter from George Bourne, New York, [New York], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1839 March 2
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Holograph, signed.Title devised by cataloger.On verso, the letter is addressed to "Mr. W. Lloyd Garrison. 25 Cornhill. Boston. Massachusetts."George Bourne writes to William Lloyd Garrison discussing "the discord which has arisen among our Brethren in Massachusetts," saying it "is of an extensive and deeply-rooted character." He cites Joshua Leavitt's plan to publish a copy of the first number of the Liberator in his newspaper, the Emancipator, "to verify that there has been a departure from the primitive basis on which the Liberator was established." Bourne recalls his own warning to Garrison, years earlier, that giving space in the Liberator to topics not directly connected to abolitionism would create "disorganizing effects." He complains that "there is a caustic and contemptuous impeachment of each other's integrity and philanthropy which pierces me to the heart." Bourne references the "Clerical Appeal" in 1837 and assures Garrison that "whoever was the author of the [current] strife, and whoever may be most guilty, I think, there has been error all around." He then objects to "the inflexible pertinacity with which some of our professed Anti-Slavery men have attempted to drive the adoption of dogmas and measures altogether severed from the Abolition of Slavery." Bourne remarks that the strife is harmful to the movement and notes that A.A. "Phelps' sneers and insinuations against you, and the retorts upon him, are indescribably prejudicial to the holy warfare." He objects to the publication of the newspaper, "the [Massachusetts] Abolitionist," saying it "is mischievous and will end in evil" but...
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Digital CommonwealthKeywords
- Abolitionists
- Antislavery Movements
- Bourne, George 1780 1845
- Correspondence
- Garrison, William Lloyd 1805 1879
- History
- Leavitt, Joshua 1794 1873
- Liberator (Boston, Mass. : 1831)
- Massachusetts Abolitionist
- Newspapers
- Phelps, Amos A. (Amos Augustus) 1805 1847
- Slaver
- Social Reformers
- The Emancipator (New York, N.Y. : 1835)
- United States