Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-10-08
LETTER FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
APPLETON, Sept. IA, 1859.

SCHUYLKILL, CHESTER Co., Pa, Sept. 25, 1859.
DEAR FRIEND I have Just finished the perusal
of the resolutions adopted at your last annual
meeting, and the ancient spirit of our old Quaker
State moves me to write you o line Of congratula-
ton on the logical ciearness, the mental vigor and
the moral pluck which they display. They are
better than l expected, though ! looked for better
things from you than l should have anticipated
from some other quarters.
One feels something like q debt of personal
gratitude to those who resolutely maintain our an
Gent testimonies in their purity, in those times
when faltering and compromise have found their
way even into the ranks of the Garrisonians. No
one fact has ever impressed me so deeply with the
power Of slavery as certain revelations Of this
kind, which we have witnessed within a year Of
the present time. 1t was, to be sure, nothing
more than we ought to have expected, as aboli-
tionists are influenced by the same general mo-
tives of other people, desire for popularity, love
of praise, that repugnance which every we'll bal
anced person in common with a greater number
who are not we'll balanced) feels to making him
self disagreeable, etc., etc., oil of which a phre-
nologist would reduce under the one head of APP
probativehess, / suppose nevertheless it is Ger.
sainly not one Of those Encouraging facts" which
some in our ranks are maguifying greatly at the
present time. The descent into Avernus is &C
much easier and more pleasant than climbing ny
the anti-slavery mountain, that it is no marvel ma
ny betake themselves to the former. And ther
by pursuing that course you gain the reputation
of being amiable, whereas, if you insist upor
abstract truth in its entirety, and, still worse, j
you make the application thereof, you are abso
luteiy certain of being called "ill-natured," etc.
you know the whole vocabulary quite q
we'll as myself, from long years of faithful labor
| hope you will never bate one jot of your recen
uncom promising testimonies.
was especially glad that you singled out par
ticularly the Republican party. 1t has seemed Il
me for some time, that there was more danger t.
be apprehended from this quarter than from tn,
Church, only, however, because more of our friend
appear to be blinded to that danger. Your testi
monies cannot be valued too highly now when tn
nation is about to plunge again into one of thos
quadrennial careers of shame and debaucher,
which send a shudder of aversion and DISCUS
throughout the civilized world.
1t is more, perhaps, because the prospects 70
any thing like SO frank and manly an expressi0l
of unadulterated truth as you have just given, j
an event hardly to be looked for at our approach
ing anniversary, that l have felt moved to expires
myself in this rather over-enthusiastic manner
But let not the readers of The Standard in Ohio
suppose for q moment, that the Philadelphia col
respondent of that journal expresses the feeling
Of the entire body of the Garrisonians in thi
State, in the very remarkable series of letter
which he has been writing during the past year
/ say remarkable in view of the fact tha. they ar
the productions of an agen. in the employ of a Gar
risonian organization, and in which he has under
taken the task of giving an anti. slavery characte
to clergymen who would not read a notice of
Garrisonian meeting from their pulpit to apollo
gize for laymen who had seen fit to withdraw from
the movement, and other similar labors Of a gu
perogatory character, thus, as it seems to me, low
ering as fast as possible the standard of abolition
ism. |, for one, protest, most distinctly agains
the whole thing, and / know that l am by n
means alone in this feeling. / believe if GU
friends would only express themselves unreseryed
y on this point, that it would be found that tn
majority of them entertain sentiments similar /
those l have expressed. Very truly yours,
HOWARD W. GILBERT.