GARNET AND BROWN

F. DOUGLASS, ESQ: SIR:--In your paper of the 23d. inst., I see an extract from a speech delivered by the Rev. H.H. Garnet, in Boston, some weeks since, in which he devotes a large portion of his remarks to a review of what I said in regard to the African Civilization Society. Will you do me the justice to allow space in your columns to reply to this somewhat strange and erroneous speech? The Rev. gentleman said:

One other thing and I must close. Wm. Wells Brown comes up and says: "I have no objections to the principles of the African Civilization Society but this one—I don't like its practice of in the United States. (Laughter.) He begged from Maine to Georgia--no, he didn't go down there, but nothing but the line Mason and Dixon drew prevented him from going to Georgia. (Great laughter.) He begged with skill and effect. And when I went to England, there was Mr. Brown, and, after one of his spirited lectures, and before he closed, he said he should have to crave a collection, to pay expenses. He begged in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, 'over the mountain and through the wildwood.' And when I got here to Boston to see Mr. Brown, he is in the State of New York, carrying on the same old trade. (Great merriment.)

It seems that Brother Garnet, instead of showing that I had misrepresented the Society of which he is President, he used the time to prove me as much of a begger as himself. Now, I will set my friend right as to how far I have begged, and how far I sanction begging. First, I have never condemned the taking up of collections for any benevolent object, whatever, I have always held that the teacher, no matter upon what subject, if to impart truth, should be sustained. When I was an agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, I took contributions for the benefit of the anti-

slavery cause, and were I an agent to-morrow, I would do the same.

My excellent friend, Mr. Loguen, of Syracuse, will bear me witness, that the next week after the Convention to which Mr. Garnet finds fault, I appealed to a Boston audience to contribute to aid him in his praiseworthy labors, in assisting the flying fugitive on his way to Canada. If Mr. Garnet will go into the anti-slavery field, and use his lecturing talent to the moulding of public sentiment, instead of sustaining a society whose agents take the ground that 'the condition of the colored people in the United States is worse to-day than it was fifteen years ago,' I will bid him 'God speed' in his labors But, when the Rev. gentleman says he found me in England, begging, he asserts that which is .

Six months previous to going to Europe, I received an invitation to visit England and become the agent of a benevolent society, which invitation I declined. A very philanthropic lady, and by-the-by, the very one upon whose benevolence, in part, the Rev. H. H. Garnet went to Great Britain himself, offered me fifty dollars toward paying my expenses across the Atlantic, which I also declined.

I went to Europe entirely at my own expense. I remained there more than five years, during which time I never solicited, either in private or in public, a single shilling. Neither did I ever ask for contributions at any meeting or lecture, to pay expenses or otherwise. I challenge Mr. Garnet to name the time and place where he heard me 'crave a collection to pay expenses.'

Has Mr. Garnet begged so long himself, that he has become satisfied that a lecturer cannot be sustained without begging?

While in England, I published four books which yielded me about three thousand dollars. This together with my lectures, enabled me to educate my children and support myself without begging. I adopted the same means while abroad that I do here. I charged an admission fee at the door, except when I was engaged to lecture before a Lyceum.—My eloquent friend concluded his criticism

on me by saying, 'When I got here to Boston to see Mr. Brown, he is in the State of New York carrying on the same old trade.--This statement is as as his others. I lectured in this State most of last winter, and not on a single occasion did I 'crave a collection.' I have four Lyceum lectures. If I give them to Lyceums, I charge them a stated sum; if I deliver them on my own account, as I often do, I charge an admission fee at the door.

So much, Mr. Editor, for the Rev. gentleman's charges against me for begging.

As to the African Civilization Society, I branded it in the Boston Convention with being a begging concern. Mr. Garnet is, I believe, almost the only colored officer in the Society, and he seems to be there only as a stool pigeon; and nearly all the officers are out through the country passing the hat.—Their Secretary is on a begging tour through Great Britain. But what appears most strange, not one of these advocates for the Civilization of Africa, think of going there themselves. If the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet will signify his wish to go to Africa as a Missionary, I will pledge myself to contribute fifty dollars towards sending him out, but upon condition that he shall not return to the United States for five years. When I go back to the East, I shall take the earliest opportunity to review Mr. Garnet's speech, and I now give him notice that I shall be as severe on him as truth will permit. If he will come to Boston, he shall have half of the time in the meetings. Will the do me the justice to copy this?

WM. WELLS BROWN.

BUFFALO, N.Y., Sept. 27.