Volume II Part 68 (1/2)

I am, Sir,

Your ob'd't serv't,

F.H. ELMORE, of S.C.

QUESTIONS for J.G. Birney, Esq., Cor. Sec. A.A.S. Society.

1. How many societies, affiliated with that of which you are the Corresponding Secretary, are there in the United States? And how many members belong to them _in the aggregate_?

2. Are there any other societies similar to yours, and not affiliated with it, in the United States? and how many, and what is the aggregate their members?

3. Have you affiliation, intercourse or connection with any similar societies out of the United States, and in what countries?

4. Do your or similar societies exist in the Colleges and other Literary inst.i.tutions of the non-slaveholding States, and to what extent?

5. What do you estimate the numbers of those who co-operate in this matter at? What proportion do they bear in the population of the Northern states, and what in the Middle non-slaveholding states? Are they increasing, and at what rate?

6. What is the object your a.s.sociations aim at? does it extend to the abolition of slavery only in the District of Columbia, or in the whole slave country?

7. By what means, and under what power, do you propose to carry your views into effect?

8. What has been for three years past, the annual income of your societies? and how is it raised?

9. In what way, and to what purposes, do you apply these funds?

10. How many priming presses and periodical publications have you?

11. To what cla.s.ses of persons do you address your publications, and are they addressed to the judgment, the imagination, or the feelings?

12. Do you propagate your doctrines by any other means than oral and written discussions,--for instance, by prints and pictures in manufactures--say pocket handkerchiefs, &c. Pray, state the various modes?

13. Are your hopes and expectations increased or lessened by the events of the last year, and, especially, by the action of this Congress? And will your exertions be relaxed or increased?

14. Have you any permanent fund, and how much?

ANTI-SLAVERY OFFICE, _New York, March 8, 1838_

Hon. F.H. ELMORE,

Member of Congress from S. Carolina:

SIR,--I take pleasure in furnis.h.i.+ng 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 own 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 favour, 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 re-animation of the Republican principles of our Const.i.tution, but at the establishment of the Union on an enduring basis.

I shall proceed to state the several questions submitted in your letter, and answer them, in the order in which they are proposed. You ask,--

”1. _How many societies, affiliated with that of which you are corresponding secretary, are there in the United States? And how many members belong to them_ IN THE AGGREGATE?”

ANSWER.--Our anniversary is held on the Tuesday immediately preceding the second Thursday in May. Returns of societies are made only a short time before. In May, 1835, there were 225 auxiliaries reported. In May, 1836, 527. In May, 1837, 1006. Returns for the anniversary in May next have not come in yet. It may, however, be safely said, that the increase, since last May, is not less than 400.[A] Of late, the multiplication of societies has not kept pace with the progress of our principles. Where these are well received, our agents are not so careful to organize societies as in former times, when our numbers were few; _societies, now_, being not deemed so necessary for the advancement of our cause. The auxiliaries average not less than 80 members each; making an aggregate of 112,480. Others estimate the auxiliaries at 1500, and the average of members at 100. I give you, what I believe to be the lowest numbers.

[Footnote A: The number reported for May was three hundred and forty, making, in the aggregate, 1346.--_Report for May_, 1838.]

”2. _Are there any other societies similar to yours, and not affiliated with it in the United States? And how many, and what is the aggregate of their members_?”