The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-05
I HE SOUTHE RN PRESS.
WASHINGTON CITY.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1850.
The Abolition Story,

We noticed some time ago i'll ''1he Indepen-
dent," paper published in Aberdeen, Mississippi,
the following:
ELLwooD FIsrER AN ABoLITIoNIsT.-Ge Gen.
Foote, in the course Ct debate last Monday, with
Judge Gholson, seeing him read from the South
ern Press to support his assertions, declared that
five years ago Elwood Fisher, its principal ed-
tor, was rank Abolitionist and he could
prove it
We stated that the allegation was "utterly
untrue" but expressed doubt whether General
FooTE had made it. We did not intend to refer
to it again until General FooTE's return to WASH
ington, to give him an opportunity of disavow-
ing it. But as the report has been frequently
quoted by submission papers of The South, in
the hope of injnring this papcr-and as General
FoorE will not arrive here in less than week
TO come, we shall indulge our opponents no
longer.
1t was, we think, quite sufficient for us to
pronounce the charge utterly untrue, since it
appeared only in the shape of a newspaper re-
port Of what General FooTE had asserted-un-
supported by proof. Of the paper We knew
nothing, and as to General FooTE, whilst we
did not think him capable of uttering such
statement, we did not think it of very great i'm
portance if he did.
We arc not bound to prove q negative, and
should not do it, if it were inconvenent. But
rs it happens to be quite easy, we shall
If we were an Abolitionist five years ago, it
must have been some time In l845. We'll, in
the winter Of 1884, the annexation of Texas
became n subject Of discussion. The senior
editor of this paper was the first to propose
public meeting Of the citizens Of Cincinnati to
consider that proposition. The meeting was
called, and he offered series of resolutions in
favor Of it, which were adopted after some dis
cussion. In that debate Mr.. CHASE, the present
senator from Ohio, took part in opposition to
it as an extension of slavery, and before the
meeting was over, challenged the senior editor
Of this paper to discuss the question at meet
jcct. The challenge was aoccptcd-.he meeting
wa. hed-tllc discussion occurrcd-and in that
debate the senior editor Of this paper took sub
stantmlly the sau,r position. assumed IN his
lecture before the Mercantile Library Associa-
ton, four wears afterwards, ia lsiS--a lecture
with which the people or the South aru we'll
acquainted Now as the senator from Oliio i,
here, and many PERSONS wh" attended the meet
inu arc in Cincinnati, the testimony is quite
ample. and il the statement we have made is
not correct, We have Indicated the means Of
refuting it. II at ANY time between that meet
ing in 1891, and the lecture in 1913, we be-
came an Aboitjonist, Of course the fact can he
shown. or its probability we leave our readers
to Judge, after our denial, even when news
papers report that General FoorE said so.
We said we knew nothing Of the "Indspsa'
dcW," The. paper that reported the statement OF
General FooTE. We saw something in the
notice Of that statement, enough Of Itself TO
cause US to distrust any report it might make
1t is the following, which succeeds in the same
paragraph, the account of what General FoorE
said:
In reading over this week an article writer
by Fisher in ls49, we discover this most preg