Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-10-06
From .4bLu Keneu Foster.
WORCESTER, Mass, Sept. 10, 18.

WORCESTER, Mass, Sept. 10, 1949.
Dear Friend: You invite me, on behalf of
Your Committee, to meet the Anti-Slavery
Young Men and Women of Ohio in Conven-
ton, on the 2lst, 22d and Odd instant. My
present duties lie in the mcultivated field OF
Eastern New York, whose stubborn soil has
scarcely been broken by the anti-slavery
plow. My entire energies are demanded
there. Personally | cannot be with you, but
my warmcst sympathies will be there. Can
we be separated from those in the West WIN
whom we have toiled, and wept, and reIol-
ced, and who are still, with us, engaged IN
! earnest labor for the same object? No
Their labors are ours, and ours are theirs,
and we are with them oftener than the morn
ing. The purer moral atmosphere engen-
dcred by their efforts mounts upward, and,
rolling over the Alleghanies, embraces Thai
which flows from the Atlantic coast west
ward, and mingling makes filter breath for a
freer, rising generation.
/ rejoice that this important Convention is
called at such a time. "Tis the best time
For tho the spirit that is fully baptized into
the sifcrings of the slave, and sees the hea-
w curse that lies on his oppressors and on
every interest of the country, can find no
time for i%naction, yet we cannot fail to see
that there are seasons peculiarly adapted to
our work. When a National election is pend
ing, and the entire moral and intellectual
heavens are obscured by the clouds of pas
sion, of prejudice and of party strife, we Ia
Dor TO little effect. But when the tempest
has spent itself, and the clouds have passed
away, in the clear light of reason and the
calm reign of conscience, the word of the
abolitionist falls with incalculable force. The
politician appeals to the passions and preju-
dices of n people, exciting their bitterest ami
mosities, and by these means seeks TO carry
his point. 1t answers his purpose, for tits
temporary success he aims at. No such
work is ours. We seek to establish freedom
for a nation. A people are free in proper
ton as they are intelligent and virtuous.-
Hence, ours is a reformation whose founda-
tons are to be laid in the hearts of the mas
SEES, for it must be permanent. Therefore,
in the cool of the day, when the fever of the
political debauch is passed of, we approach
this people.
And not only because the din of political
excitement is hushed is this a season peculi-
arIy adapted to succeed our efforts, but the
first impediments that stood in our path have
been removed. The Nation is thoroughly
aroused. There is no nook or corner so Sc
cluded that some ray of anti-slavery light has
not penetrated it. We have the ear of the
people as never heretofore. They know they
cannot stave off this question. The cause
has acquired SO much momentum i'll IFS on
ward course, that we are carried forward of
its own force. And again, since the assign
ment of Liberty party into the hands of the
uncquivocating Free Soil party, there is no
hypocritical faction to mislead the true-heart-
ed but unwary.
Here then we stand-our camp purged of
traitors--our pathway to the enemy cleared
up-our strength vastly increased by the
stern discipline of former service-and last,
not least, our enemies on every hand, North
and South, East and West, thrown into utter
confusion and in violent conflict with each
other.
IT'S ours, then, at this suspicious moment,
to return to the charge with more energy and
perseverance than at any former time.
BY the purity of our hands from the slaves
blood, contrasted with the ~blood-guiltiness of
their oppressors, we must shame them into
decency. BY the warmth of our hearts must
we melt theirs. By the enlightenment of our
understandings must we dispel the darkness
from their minds. And Just in proportion to
our own purity, to the fervor of our own love,
shall our enterprise be accelerated.
Fellow laborers! let us bend ourselves to
this vast work. Let us count no sacrifice of
time, of money, of ease, of reputation, too
great to be laid OH this highest, noblest, pu-
rest altar ever erected by God for the offer
ings of his children.
Yours, for a speedy jubilee,
ABBY KELLEY FOSTER.