Sandusky, June 1st, 1848.

Dear Douglass:—I have arrived thus far on my journey from the two great conventions—the one an independent gathering of the people, irrespective of party ties and basis, opposed to the regular nominees of the Baltimore and Philadelphia Conventions, Cass and Taylor; the first a most unscrupulous pro-slaveryite; the second, an unconscionable slave-holder—and the Liberty Party Convention, which took place immediately on the adjournment of the Independent.

I shall not consume time by giving the preliminaries, as these you have long since had by the published proceedings; but there are two circumstances connected with these meetings worthy of special notice: that the rabid editor of one of the most loathsome pro-slavery papers in the country, S. Medary, of the Ohio Statesman, the Democratic organ in Ohio, should actually tender the use of the "Democratic Hall," owned by himself, to the Convention; and after its organization, which took place in the hall, Mr. Wood, Auditor of State, in behalf of himself and the proper authorities, tendered the use of the Hall of Representatives, in the Capitol, which was occupied by the Convention. I am credibly informed by knowing citizens of Columbus, that in the absence of the Legislature, this is the first instance in which the Capitol was ever granted for any purpose whatever. However much we may approve of the courtesy, it is no difficult task for you and me to determine the cause of this manoeuvre. Well, as the old slave woman said, who, when hungry, prayed that God would, even as he "fed Elijah, the prophet, by ravens," feed her, at the instance of which sentence, a number of mischievous youths, who had been listening to her supplications, stealthily threw down her cabin chimney a large loaf of bread, turned round and exclaimed, "Thank God, it is good, if the devil sent it!"

The Convention was a numerous and enthusiastic gathering of the fearless and independent spirits of the heretofore bound and trammeled partizans. There was no public building in Columbus sufficiently capacious to contain them, and there being no shade nearer than two miles from the city corporation, the weather being extremely warm, many, very many, came without an opportunity of once gaining admittance within doors, as it was impossible to sit without. I had a comfortable and conspicuous place during the whole session, which was two days, some one of the delegates always extending to me the privilege of a seat.

The President of the Convention, Mr. Sawyer, of Hamilton county, is a staunch and unflinching Whig, and the two Vice-Presidents, if I mistake not, were chosen from the Democratic and Liberty party ranks. The principal speakers were Messrs. Hamblin, W. Vaughan, W. Platt, D. Taylor, W. Chase of Indiana, L. Briggs, W. Lewis, L. Vance, W. Birney, Jr., L. Bliss, D. Hull, L., and Preston. There were a number of other speakers also—a Mr. Harding, of Indiana, L., who, like Dr. Chase of the same State, were there as mere visitors, in order to convey to their constituents the spirit that prevails in Ohio against the monstrous outrage upon the rights of freemen, perpetrated by the Baltimore and Philadelphia Conventions. And certain am I, if they but properly report the doings of this Convention, they will tell a story that shall not be difficult to comprehend. President Mahan, I should have stated, of Oberlin College, was among the most prominent speakers at the Convention.

The position of many of the speakers was highly independent, some truly philanthropic, and one in particular, Mr. Vaughan, (late editor of the Examiner,) was pungently humiliating when he exhibited the blistering contempt with which the North was regarded by the South, as manifested in the Philadelphia Convention, of which he was a Whig delegate, from Hamilton county, Ohio.

Mr. Vaughan observed, that although the whole Southern delegation had repeatedly spoken, stating their choice of persons, yet the President emphatically refused Mr. Galaway, the Secretary of State, or any of the

Ohio delegation, the privilege to speak, for the very and ostensible reason, that he was aware that their choice of candidates was Judge McLean, Hon. Thos. Corwin, or some other Northern man with Anti-Slavery feelings; hence, the determination to prevent the name of such a person from coming before the Convention. After repeated attempts to speak, without success, the Southerners all having done, says Mr. Vaughan, and the President being nominated, a Southern delegate rose in his place and observed, "The Northern members can now nominate the Vice President; the South don't want ALL the officers;" and this, said the speaker, was said with such an air of conscious generosity on the part of the Southern delegate, that he was gracious to his inferiors, that "O!" said he, "I only wish that every freeman in Ohio could have been there to hear him, and I have no fears but every one would immediately have denounced all the old parties, and never more favor a Southern nomination."

Another speaker said, "We are for the liberties of the WHOLE American people, without distinction. 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,' is our watchword."

Mr. Hamlin, Whig ex-member of Congress, and also Mr. Vance, were quite anti-slavery in their definitions; but Mr. Briggs, a prominent Whig of Cleveland, one who so assiduously labored for the elevation of Henry ClayClay, Henry

Henry Clay (1777-1852), a native Virginian, entered politics during the 1790s in his adopted state of Kentucky and rose quickly to national prominence. As a congressman, senator, secretary of state, founder of the Whig party, and regular presidential candidate, Clay espoused broadly nationalistic programs designed to avoid sectional antagonism caused by the issue of slavery. He figured prominently in the debates that led to the passage of the Missouri Compromise, and he was a leading architect of the Compromise of 1850. His support of the American Colonization Society earned him the lasting hostility of Garrisonian abolitionists. In Congress, Clay vigorously opposed abolitionist petitions against slavery in the District of Columbia. Robert V. Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York, 1991); Richard H. Sewell, Ballots for Freedom: Antislavery Politics in the United States, 1837-1860 (New York, 1976), 109; DAB, 4:73-79. to the Chief Magistracy of this nation, was particularly and unreservedly explicit in giving utterance to his sentiments, and what he conceived to be genuine Republican, Whig and Democratic principles.

"It was intended," said Mr. Briggs, "by our forefathers, that this country should be the home of the children of every country and clime under heaven. They tell us that the negro is inferior; give the slave a chance, give the black an equal chance with the white man, and he will be all that the white man is. I am in favor of universal education, and the universal equality of all mankind; and with these principles we will march under a white flag, with a single black stripe in it, which shall represent the American SLAVE."

These and similar remarks were received with rapturous applause. Mr. Briggs was most happy in his remarks, and made a clear and distinct exhibit of those principles of Republican philanthropy, as the basis upon which should rest the superstructure of every free and enlightened government.

Altogether, this was a cheering and hopeful event for the downtrodden and oppressed of our land, a ray of light beaming upon the difficult pathway of the half million nominally free colored residents of the U.S. in general, and on those of Ohio in particular. I know not whether it was the effect of policy or the absence of proper feeling towards them; but it is a fact worthy of remark, that all the sympathy expressed or manifested for the colored people by the speakers, emanated from the Whig and Democratic members, and save Messrs. Chase, and perhaps Hull, none from the Liberty party delegates.

I cannot countenance and tolerate in Liberty men that which I have ever condemned in the old conservative parties; and I shall say here, as I have and shall ever say elsewhere, that I hope that our Liberty party brethren may never lose sight of the fundamental and primary object of their party, at least of Anti-slavery organizations; because so soon as they become conservative, they cease to be the friends of the oppressed, and, like the other parties, stand as despots and tyrants, resting in very indifference, with their horrible weight upon crushed and outraged humanity. I earnestly entreat our Liberty brethren, in their deliberations, to think and say more about the slave and the condition of the free colored people. If these be discarded—if, as I have heard it asserted, these form no essential part of the Liberty party—if, indeed, these form not the foundation upon which rests the Liberty temple—then let it, with the other parties, be scattered to the four winds of heaven, and by every colored person loathed as a monster in disguise, like the "Liberty boys" of seventy-six, only requiring power to carry their designs into execution. But we must, and shall hope and believe differently, until the contrary be fully proven; and then, and not till then, shall we lift up the battle-axe in vindictive warfare against it.—But our friends, if they desire our co-operation or approbation, must not forget or neglect our interest. This is imperative. We have been duped and cajoled now quite sufficient.

The Liberty Convention met on Thursday, the 22d, immediately subsequent to the adjournment of the Independent Convention, taking the usual course in such conventions, but deferred the gubernatorial nomination until the views of the Whig and Democratic nominees—Ford and Weller—were obtained on the subject of slavery and free territory.—If favorable, a Liberty nomination may not be made; if to the contrary, the Liberty Central or Executive Committee have the power, who certainly will, in such on event, nominate a Liberty candidate for Governor of Ohio. At this Convention, great speeches were also made, Mr. Samuel Lewis making one of his greatest and best efforts. He is a great speaker—stern, resolute and determined—perhaps too inflexible in general, but in this Convention, I considered his course quite deliberative.

Friday evening the 23d, held a meeting in the Methodist Church, among the colored citizens, and obtained some subscribers. My very worthy and talented friend, Charles H. Langston, assisted me on this, as well as subsequent occasions.

Monday evening the 26th, held a meeting in Mechanicsburg, a small village in (if I mistake not) Champaign county. This meeting was well attended, although I arrived at sunset, without previous notice; one-half of the assembly consisting of ladies. In this place, Mr. Wilson, the school-teacher, is sole owner of the school-house, which is erected on his land, for the double purpose of school-house and anti-slavery meetings, previous to which a house could not be obtained for the purpose. The little anti-slavery spirit which pervades this community, like the "little leaven," has almost "leavened the whole lump."

Wednesday the 28th.—This evening, after sunset, I arrived in a small village of between four and five hundred inhabitants, called Marseilles. On entering the street, I found a number of persons, who, from their appearance, looked as though they were among the principal men of the place, "pitching quoits" in the centre of the principal street. As soon as I was discovered, they suspended their sport, all, or nearly so, to the hotel at which I stopped, as usual in those country places West, being attracted there by the novelty of strangers, yet apprehended nothing more than usual in such cases. I was soon, in a polite manner, questioned by the proprietor of the hotel, whom I found to be a Liberty man, who, suspecting our mission, and who had attended the recent Columbus Convention, and withal a very clever man. Finding who I was, and learning my mission, a meeting was immediately proposed by this gentleman, whose name, neglecting to note down, I have since forgotten.

Consultation being had with several persons, especially one person pretending to be an abolitionist, who sat in the room with us, making many inquiries about Douglass, GarrisonGarrison, William Lloyd

William Lloyd Garrison (1805-79) was the foremost white abolitionist of the nineteenth century and was credited with the discovery of Douglass as a speaker at an antislavery meeting in Nantucket in 1841. He began his career as an apprentice printer on the Newburyport (Mass.) Herald at the age of thirteen. Garrison became editor of the Newburyport Free Press in 1826, but the paper closed within a year. He was then associated with a series of periodicals in Boston that advocated reform before Benjamin Lundy offered the young journalist the opportunity to write for his antislavery newspaper. Garrison joined Lundy in editing the Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1829, during the last year of the paper's 1821-1830 run. In 1830 a libel suit against the editors forced the paper to close and landed Garrison in jail. After his release, he courted the wealthy merchants of New York and Boston in order to start the Liberator (1831-65), a weekly journal based in Boston in which he advocated an immediate end to slavery. Garrison's brand of abolition condemned any institution that would tolerate the existence of slavery, including churches, political parties. and even the United States itself and any scheme aimed at removing black people from the country. Instead, Garrison hoped to raise the public's awareness that slavery was morally wrong and thereby force its end in an almost millennial moment of emancipation. His approach appealed to both white and black antislavery advocates but earned him many enemies among those only moderately opposed to slavery and slaveholders alike. Seeing the need for greater action and organization beyond the pages of the Liberator; Garrison joined with other abolitionists to form the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1831. Two years later he helped found the larger American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1833 he established ties with English abolitionists after a trip to Great Britain, and he later brought the noted and notorious speaker George Thompson to the United States for a tour. Garrison also dedicated himself to women's rights, encouraging women to enter the public sphere by inviting them, via the Liberator, to form female antislavery societies. In addition to the thirty-three women's antislavery societies that flourished by 1838, Garrison's American Anti-Slavery Society welcomed women as well as blacks into its ranks. However, female delegates were excluded from the World's Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 in London. The issue of women's participation in the antislavery movement and Garrison's absolute refusal to turn to politics to end slavery caused a division in the American Anti-Slavery Society. Brothers Lewis and Arthur Tappan, who opposed women's acting as speakers and who hoped to use politics toward abolition, broke with Garrison's American Anti-Slavery Society, forming the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, or the "New Organization" in 1841. Garrison's ideas were so closely associated with the "Old Organization" that the American Anti-Slavery Society became known simply as the "Garrisonians." With the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, Garrison believed that he had accomplished his life's work and that of the antislavery movement. He then resigned from the presidency of the American Anti-Slavery Society and closed the Liberator. Wendell Phillips Garrison and Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879: The Story of His Life Told by His Children, 4 vols. (New York, 188589); Henry Mayer, All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery (New York, 1998); James Brewer Stewart, William Lloyd Garrison and the Challenge of Emancipation (Arlington Heights, Ill., 1992); John L. Thomas, The Liberator: William Lloyd Garrison (Boston, 1963); Dictionary of American Biography, 20 vols. (New York, 1928-36), 7:168-72. and Remond, arrangements were effected, and a meeting determined upon. The house being lighted, in a few minutes, as it was now dark, Mr. Langston and I went off to the place of meeting, the school house.—On passing along the streets, the side-ways were strung along with young men, lads and boys, among whom were those who were the most eager for the meeting, and had lighted up the house, who, as we passed, scoffed and used disrespectful language, falling in the train immediately behind us and close to our heels, until we entered the school-house, which we found empty, with the exception of some three or four respectable-looking men, who appeared as if they came for the sake of the meeting. We had barely entered the house, when they came pouring in, boys and men, to the number of perhaps forty or fifty, looking ready and eager for any and every mischief. To this, however, I make the exception of about half a dozen gentlemen, among whom are included our host of the hotel, and a book-binder, who sojourned at the same house. When on our way to the school-house, I turned back for a copy of the paper, Mr. Langston stopping by the wayside to wait for me, who being so light in color, that many of them mistook him to be what is called "white": hence, he had a favorable opportunity to hear their schemes and language concerning us. On my return to Mr. Langston, he immediately related to me what he had heard, peremptorily refusing, in consequence of the disrespectful spirit manifested and the conduct of the persons present, to speak at all on the occasion.

I rose up, and in a respectful manner declined to speak under the circumstances.—The house, it is true, was quiet, and may have, for aught I know, remained so until I had finished a long discourse, at least, until some position was taken which displeased them, when, from what really followed, it would not then be difficult to determine the consequence. The host of the hotel, and one other gentleman, whose motives, there is no doubt, were the best, hoped that I would give them a lecture, they having no idea of the cause of my refusal. Instanter, a man rose up, the identical person who had previously, Judas-like, manifested at the hotel such friendly feelings, and observed: "I move that we adjourn, by considering this a darkey burlesque!" This was but food for the rabble; all leaving the house, with a loud shout of "darkey burlesque!" and this repeated continually, with many other epithets of disparagement, until we reached the hotel.

But nothing less than a MOB would satisfy these craven wretches. They had come to the meeting with the full intention, and were now ready to destroy us, by the aid of "any hand that would administer to their wrath and second their vengeance." The more effectually to accomplish their object, a brass drum, tamborine, clarionet, violin, jaw-bone of a horse, castanets, and a number of other instruments, or whatever would tend to excite and rally a formidable mob, did these miserable outlaws resort to.

The crowd, which consisted well nigh of all the men and boys in the neighborhood, who were able to throw a brickbat, being now assembled "the tar and feathers" were demanded, with a tone which told forcibly the determination with which they intended to carrying out their threats. A tar barrel was procured, and after many yelps and howls which rent the air around, they succeeded, in the course of some twenty minutes, in staving in the head. But it appeared that this barrel had been too closely drained of its contents, and as the village was but small, there was none other in the place, as the barrel was obtained from the principal store, directly opposite the hotel, which place was the general head-quarters of the rowdies for the night.—Failing to find tar sufficient in which to saturate us, they resorted to another expedient, which they were certain would have the desired effect.

A torch was brought, and the tar barrel set in a flame, when store boxes were piled upon it, which produced a fire that must have been seen several miles around. The fire was built in the middle of the street, directly opposite the hotel in which we staid. Then came the cry, "Burn them alive!—kill the niggers!—they shall never leave this place!—bring them out!—rush in and take them!—Which is their room? Niggers! come out, or we will burn down the house over your heads!" A consultation was held, the result of which was, that they would rush into our room, drag us out, tie and hand-cuff us, and take us immediately to the South and sell us! declaring that I would bring ["]fifteen hundred dollars, cash"! Turning to a blacksmith in the crowd, they asked him whether he would make the "hand-cuffs," he, slave like, answered "yes, any moment." This, I would observe, was the language of men, and not of lads and boys, who formed no inconsiderable part of this gang of rowdies. Our position was such that we could look down upon them, reconnoitre their every movement, and hear all that was said. This position we occupied with as much coolness and deliberation as though nothing was transpiring below, fully determined not to leave it only with the loss of our life. We had done nothing worthy of such treatment, and, therefore, under no circumstances, could submit to personal violence. My friends may censure me—even both of us—for this, but we cannot help it. We are not slaves, nor will we tamely suffer the treatment of slaves, let it come from a high or low source, or from wherever it may.

Then came the most horrible howling and yelling, cursing and blasphemy, every disparaging, reproachful, degrading, vile and vulgar epithet that could be conceived by the most vitiated imaginations, which bedlam of shocking discord was kept up from nine until one o'clock at night. There is no tongue can express nor mind conceive the terrible uproar and ferocious blackguardism of this night's proceedings. Hallooing, cursing, and swearing, blackguardism—the roaring of drums, beating of tamborines, blowing of instruments and horns, the rattling of bones, smashing of store boxes and boards for the fire—all going on at once and the same time, incessantly for the space of four hours, by far exceeding anything of a similar nature which I have ever witnessed. If "all pandemonium had been let loose," and every imp had been a demon, each demon possessing a thousand tongues, each tongue capable of uttering a thousand demoniac howls, it could not have increased the infernal turmoil of this night's proceedings. The wretches, not possessing courage sufficient to drag us by force into the street, where to execute, in the midst of their assembled hundreds, their hellish designs, conceived the plot of disfiguring and disabling our horse, and breaking the buggy to pieces. Two or three gentlemen, who overhearing their plot, cautiously secreted the horse and buggy in the barn of a neighbor, which prevented this nefarious scheme from being put into execution. I would observe, that during all this midnight outrage, the proprietor of the hotel acted like a man, and I have no doubt but his influence contributed much, in the morning, toward bringing them to a sober reflection.

The mob eventually concluded, after rioting around the hotel until past one o'clock, having burnt, in all probability, all the spare store boxes, to retire until morning; but not, however, without giving strict instructions to the ostler boy, who slept in the bar-room of the hotel, that should we in the night attempt to flee, to give the storekeeper near the hotel speedy notice, who was to call up his troop by the beating of the brass drum, as they, like the forty Jews against Paul, declared that they would neither eat nor drink until they took our lives; and be this remembered, it was not for anything that had been said, but simply for what we did not say. We gave them no pretext for a mob, but to have one they were determined.

In the morning early, there were six only of them on the ground, among them a store keeper, as I learned, who howled and yelped as we left the hotel, two of whom secreted themselves in a shed, and stoned us, striking the horse and buggy, fortunately without injury to either. I have no doubt had they not feared the consequences, and probably from their blackguardism the night previous, been ashamed to be seen, though early in the morning, and identified, but they would have endeavored, at least, to do us some serious injury. Those who were present threatened us in the name of the town, that should either of us pass that way again our doom was fixed. Unfortunately, I could not learn the name of one of these insufferable villains.—We left this place unharmed, and even unfrightened, as we were reconciled as to the course we should pursue.

We arrived in Sandusky City on Friday evening the 30th inst., and shall proceed from here to Detroit city, where there is now a very interesting slave case pending before the U.S. Court, Judges McLean and Wilkins. I shall report you concerning this case from Detroit.

Yours, for God and Humanity,

M. R. D.Delany, Martin Robison

Born to a free mother and a slave father in Charlestown, in western Virginia, Martin Robison Delany (1812-85) was an editor, physician, and leading advocate of black emigration. In 1822 Delany's mother moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where his father later joined them, and the young Delany attended a local school. In 1831 he moved to Pittsburgh where he worked as a barber, attended a school run by a black Methodist minister, and studied medicine, upgrading his occupation from “cupper and leecher“ to physician. Between 1843 and 1847, Delany was editor of the Mystery, a black Pittsburgh newspaper. For the next two years he served as co-editor of Doug1ass’s North Star and lectured and traveled extensively to gain new subscriptions for that paper. In 1850-51 Delany attended Harvard Medical College but, owing to protests from white students, was denied admission to the final term needed to complete his medical degree. The following year he wrote The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered (Philadelphia, 1852), in which he argued that emigration was the only remedy for the oppressed state of black Americans. When many black abolitionists, including Douglass, rejected Delany's position, he organized a series of National Emigration Conventions that met in 1854, 1856, and 1858. These assemblies created a permanent National Board of Commissioners, of which Delany was president and chief propagandist. In 1856 Delany moved to Chatham, Canada West, and three years later explored the Niger river valley in Africa looking for possible emigration sites. His novel Blake was serialized in the Weekly Anglo-African from November 1861 through May 1862. During the Civil War, Delany served the North first as a recruiter and examining surgeon and eventually as a major of the 104th U.S. Colored Troops. From 1865 to 1868 Delany was a Freedmen's Bureau officer in South Carolina and later was active in that state's politics, running unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on the Independent Republican ticket in 1874. Ullman, Martin R. Delany, 52-103, 115-21, 140-71, 211-46; Dorothy Sterling, The Making of an Afro-American: Martin Robison Delany, 1812—1885 (Garden City, N.Y., 1971); Thomas Holt, Black Over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction (Urbana, Ill., 1977), 74-75, 176-77; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 115-33, 171-83; Martin R. Delany, Blake; or, The Huts of America, ed. Floyd J. Miller (Boston, 1970), ix; DAB, 5: 219-20.