Glasgow 20 –

April 1846

Dear FriendWebb, Richard Davis

Richard D. Webb was a Garrisonian abolitionist from Dublin, Ireland, whom Douglass met on his first trip to the British Isles in 1845. Originally a Quaker, he turned toward Unitarianism as his antislavery passions became more radical. A successful printer, Webb guided the small, but intensely active, Hibernian Anti-Slavery Society in Dublin, of which James Haughton and his family were also members. Webb printed the organ of the British Garrisonian abolitionist movement, the Anti-Slavery Advocate, out of his Dublin-based office. The British Garrisonians were active pamphleteers, and Webb's own The National AntiSlavery Societies of England and the United States (1852) was one of the most confident and able statements of the Garrisonian cause to appear on either side of the Atlantic. Temperley, British Antislavery, 210, 212-13, 227, 237, 239, 244, 252-54, 256, 259; Taylor, British and American Abolitionists, 241-44, 248, 258-59, 293-94. —I do not understand your account. In a letter to me dated jan. 5th. you stated my indebtedness to you as being £27-10, 10-pence. This (you added) pays for every thing connected with the (first) edition of 2-000 - except the forwarding of parcels." You also informed me that you had received, £6-00 from Bristol, I then sent you a draft for £21,00 which you acknowledged, This I suppose would settle all on the score of the first edition—except forwarding Parcels, In your last a part of the old account is brought over, a part kept

back And the accounts of the New Edition is so mixed up with the old—that I can not understand it. I have all of your letters acknowledging the reciept of Sums which have come into your hands from the sale of my Book.—and in counting them over with my friend Mr. Caird, I find they amount to £1,15—while the first edition was not to cost me over £96 with the Portrait, Beleiving there are mistakes—and errors in the account of tenth April, I prefer to have a connected Statement—of all the Books which you have disposed of—To whom they were sent—how many have been

paid for—and how many yet remain to be paid for. an how many of the last 1000 you ha[ve] I deem this necess to a proper understanding and settlement, I am anxcious to know this as soon as possible—for I know not how soon I may be summoned home—my family are all unwell.

Please address me as useual care of Mr. SmealSmeal, William

William Smeal (1793-1877) was a Glasgow Quaker and a successful tea merchant. He was a leading member of the Glasgow Emancipation Society and often served in its powerful position of secretary. He and his brother, Robert, also edited and published the British Friend, a monthly Quaker journal, in 1843. A friend and devoted supporter of William Lloyd Garrison, Smeal believed with Garrison that abolitionism could be achieved only under a program that pursued such related reforms as peace, temperance, and women's rights with equal fervor. A strong Union supporter during the Civil War, Smeal and Andrew Paton prevented some clippers bound for the Confederacy from leaving Glasgow. Garrison and Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 2:398, 402; 4:67, 222-23, 283; C. Duncan Rice, The Scots Abolitionists, 1833-1861 (Baton Rouge, La., 1981), 37, 41-44; Temperley, British Antislavery, 210-13. , kind regards to Mrs. Webb.

Yours truly

F Douglass.

Please write the account as plain as possible—I have not learned yet to read your hand with ease. F. D.