Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1840-04-13
GEN. uARRIsoN's ABoLITIoSIsM.

The Riclmon Ehqniter aud other papers have
,.blished a garbled extract from a letter of Gen.
u,r,ison in reference TO his membership Of an Abo.
l,ion Society in Richmond, when he was a boy.
When we saw in what a disingenuous manner Gen.
p,rdson's CLeyiot speech Was garbled, we were cen
tain ,ha, they " Tho had mullsled the one lad not per-
nilted the other to appear 10 lis original shape before
the public. In one word. we knew that il was either
nm entire foi gery, or else that its meaning was grossly
ne,yerted. Aud such turns out 10 be the fact. A
letter from a member Of Consress TO the editors Of
The Wing, says, 81 have a copy of Gen. Harrison's
entire letter in reference to his membership of an
abolition Society at Richmond-I am about to
publish il in a circular address TO my constituents.
You viii be surprised TO see the contents Of that let
Ter, and will kuow how to appreciate the motive FOR
pa,bling il. The letter throughout bleathes the
shirt Of the Vincennes speech. /, WIS written in
1922, just preceding the Congressional election in
Ohio, in which Gen. Ii srrison was characterization
his vote on the Missouri, QuesIion.) 1t is very Ger
lain therefore tina, it dad no, convince the people of
Ohio, who opposed him for his generous defence of
the South, tina, he was an Abolitionisi, although the
Enquirer may now hope to prove by it that lie vas one.
If he had been, be would never have been defeated
in 1922, because he would then have voted for the
Missouri Restriction, as Martin Van Buren, did
Must not his character be a good one which can
only be assaIled successfully by the m~utlation orpa-
pers, which are published as his own?
OF~ Since the foregoing was in type, we have
seen a paragraph ntlie Cincinnati Chronicle, insert
ed apparently by authority Of Gen. Harrison himself.
in reference to this story. 1t says
"WM. II. HARRISON when a youth of II years OF
age, with many Of his companions, then residing in
the city of Richmond 10 tie State OF Virginia, be-
longed to a SoLiety intended TO encourage the e.
Emancipation Of slaves, and send them out of the
country. The members of The society were all resi-
dents Of Slave State. General lIarrison's removal
from Richmond to prosecute his studies at The med
ical school in Philadelphia, in a few months dssol-
we'd his connection with that society, which was never
resumed. This was fly gears aga, end since that
time, Geaerdt Harrison has been a member ofno socie
" Uhdterer(or any purpose Utaieter, trcept he Ham
iLon County Agricultural Society, Of chich for many
years he was President"
So that, in point Of fact, the Society to which
Gen. Harrison belonged in Richmond, tchcn a 6oy II
years old, and which is now brought up in Judgment
Society of The present day, which has precisely the
same object in view. Indeed, who could, for a mo-
ment, have supposed that there ever existed, in the
Metropolis of Virginia, fifty Yeas ago The largest
slaveholdlng State in the Union, an Abolition Socie-
ty like those now existing al the North or that
ers in Virginia, would have Been a member of il, if
there had been sacIa Society! The story is absurd
upon its face.