for this purpose, there is no valid reason presented why the offer made by the Board to the Executive Committee should not be accepted, and thus the form, if not the spirit of the relation, be kept up till the annual meeting of the Parent Society in May, so that there may be no collision between the two societies.

That notwithstanding every other drawback, our pledge would unquestionably have been met, had it not been for the unusual amount of time and labor which it was deemed all-important to expend upon political action, especially in the Fourth District. The most favorable season for delivering public lectures, and collecting funds, is during the fall and winter months; but the political struggle in that District has occupied nearly all this season, (and yet remains undecided,) very much to the hindrance of systematic pecuniary efforts on the part of our agents. We have expressed to the Executive Committee at New York our confident belief, that the same amount of labor, which has been expended upon that District, would have resulted in the collection of all the money now due the Parent Society; nay, that Mr. Stanton alone could have raised the necessary amount. *

*

*

The delegation sent to New York, were instructed to say, that, in case the wishes of the Board were disregarded, we should feel ourselves compelled to make a public PROTEST against the doings of the Executive Committee; and we do accordingly make such protest, in behalf of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

1. Because when the agreement was made as to the payment of $10,000, it was not supposed by this Board that such agreement would be considered null and void on the failure of the Society punctually to meet its quarterly payments. We did not expect to have the relation broken up before the experiment had been fully tried. If, on the first of May, we had come short, then a different arrangement might have been made in perfect harmony. Such pledges are not to be regarded in the same light as mercantile con

tracts.

sums

2. Because we believe that, by a united and vigorous effort, the now due may be collected, and the entire pledge redeemed according to promise: therefore, it is neither courteous nor fair. in our opinion, abruptly to proclaim that the relation is ended, within two months of the time when it would expire by its own limita

tion.

3. Because we have repeatedly, and with entire unanimity, expressed a willingness that the Executive Committee should send into the State their financial agents, at our expense, with the single condition that they should labor under the direction of this Board, and in conformity to the connexion subsisting between the two societies.

4. Because, in refusing to act in accordance with the wishes of this Board, KNOWING THAT, BY PERSISTING IN THEIR COURSE, A COLLISION WOULD FOLLOW,-the Committee show that they are not careful to preserve the harmony that ought to exist between the

Parent Society and its auxiliaries, and are reckless of consequen.

ces.

Under these unpleasant circumstances, we feel that no other alternative is left us than to lay these statements before the abolitionists of Massachusetts, and to call upon them to decide, in their individ ual and associated capacity, whether they are ready to make the State Society a mere cypher; and whether they can sanction the proceedings of the New York Executive Committee. If they think there is no just cause for complaint, on our part; if they are in favor of giving up the control of the anti-slavery cause in Massachu setts into the hands of a distant committee; if they are satisfied that the State organization is of no consequence, and that we, as a Board, should have no voice either in the appointment or control of the agents who labor in this State; if, in fine, they prefer returning to the old plan, that they may be annoyed and perplexed by the conflicting claims upon the liberality of the State and Parent Societies; then they will take no action upon our appeal, except to bestow censure upon us, and award praise to the Executive Committee at New York. But, if they are in favor of maintaining the relation of the two societies until it expire by its own limitation in May; if they think that our offers to that Committee have been fair and liberal; if they consider that the control of agents laboring in this State justly belongs to the Board; and if they are in favor of dividing the immense responsibilities of the anti-slavery cause, and not of entrusting them solely to some dozen individuals in New York; then they will rally around the State Society, and see to it that their contributions, intended for the redemption of their pledge to the Parent Society, BE PAID INTO THE STATE TREASURY, rather than to the financial agents sent here by the Executive Committee without the concurrence of this Board.

We earnestly desire that this pledge may be redeemed without delay; but it ought to be done in the form and manner prescribed under the relation agreed upon in May last. Much yet remains to be done to abolitionze this Commonwealth. All eyes are turned to Massachusetts as the pioneer State in the cause of human liberty. Without funds, the State Society can have no agents; and without agents, it will be powerless, and had better cease to exist. For ourselves, we shall rejoice to give place to better men as a Board of Managers; but, while we are called to maintain our present responsible trust, we shall feel bound to lift up a voice of remonstrance, of warning, or of encouragement, from time to time, as the exigencies of our holy cause may seem to require."

As the time for holding the regular quarterly meeting of the State Society was near at hand, and as they were anxious to ascertain the views and feelings of their constitutents as to the propriety of the course they had felt called upon to pursue, the Board immediately issued the following address to the ab. olitionists of Massachusetts:

"BRETHREN:

The Quarterly meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society will be holden at Boston, on TUESDAY, the 26th day of March, instant. The Board of Managers call earnestly on all county and town societies to send delegates to this meeting. The important questions to come before it make a full representation of the whole State necessary. The position assumed by the American Anti-Slavery Society, in relation to our own, demands an instant and clear expression of the opinion of the Commonwealth.

The Executive Committee at New York, against our repeated advice and earnest protest, have virtually assumed the management of financial affairs within the State. This power necessarily includes the appointment of agents and the control of publications. It is, in fact, the exclusive control of the cause. The question, then, which Massachusetts is called to answer, is briefly thisshall we entrust the whole guidance of our enterprise to a dozen individuals? Monopoly of power is always dangerous, in this cause peculiarly so, arrayed as we are against all classes and interests, and where a single mis-step entails such disastrous consequences.

Hitherto, if Ohio had gone wrong, her sister States were at hand, holding up the standard and keeping the beacon-fire bright and unchanging, to win her back to duty and union. If Massachusetts, blinded or deceived, had faltered, the weakness or indecision would have spread only over a single State. But let the State societies be suspended-entrust exclusive power to a committee at New York-and one mistake is ruin--and not to one State only, but the whole cause. Let the trumpet there once give an uncertain sound, let one heart waver, the whole host is broken up-the march of the whole arrested. With no distrust of the individuals composing the committee, it is the system we deprecate.

We are unwilling to believe that the men and women of the Commonwealth are ready thus to peril our holy enterprise. We have protested in your name against the course of the Parent Society; but in a crisis so peculiar, the free voice of Massachusettsthe whole State-must support that protest, or it avails nothing.

If we are wrong—if you are ready to surrender the responsibili ty, and place yourselves and the slave in the hands of a few individuals then it becomes us to ask, of what use is the cumbrous machinery of a state organization, and whether it would not be better to dissolve the Massachusetts Society, and let those who assume the whole power, bear also the burden and responsibility of the cause?

The decision of this question is doubly important now, in conse quence of the approaching anniversary of the American Society, for the instruction of which the voice of Massachusetts should be distinctly heard.”

In order that there might be as full and fair an expression

of the sentiments of the great body of abolitionists in this State, as possible, efforts were made by the Board to circulate the notice of the meeting in all parts of the Commonwealth. The meeting was accordingly held in the Marlboro' Chapel, Boston, at the time appointed-a large number of delegates being present. Considerable excitement was created on the occasion; and, after a warm discussion, the following resolution was adopted by a vote of 142 to 23:

"Resolved, That the course pursued by the Board of Managers of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in relation to the difficulty now existing between that Board and the Executive Committee of the Parent Society, meets our hearty approval."

The delegation who appeared from New York, in behalf of the Executive Committee, consisted of Messrs. James G. Birney, Lewis Tappan and Henry B. Stanton. They endeavored to show, (with what success the result manifests,) that the Executive Committee had acted honorably, wisely and with all due courtesy; that they had no other alternative than to declare the relation subsisting between the State and Parent Societies null and void; and that, by the terms of the agreement, no discretionary power was left in their hands to observe that relation, on the failure of the State Society to redeem its pledge punctually. Among those who participated in the discussion were Messrs. Follen, Loring, Stanton, Phelps, Torrey, St. Clair, Allen, French, Ryder, Phillips, Garrison, Brimblecom, Scott, Durfee, Reed and Thompson.

After the adoption of the resolution, sustaining the Massachusetts Board, the following was offered by Wendell Phillips, but was subsequently withdrawn by the mover, in consequence of the manner in which it was treated by the New York delegation, and by one of the agents of the Parent Society.

"Resolved, That we are ready harmoniously to co-operate with the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, in the collection of funds within this Commonwealth, provided they will act with us under the arrangement of June last."

The above resolution was offered in an amicable spirit, and with a sincere desire to heal the breach now existing between

the two societies, at least so far as to unite the whole body of abolitionists in one vigorous and harmonious effort to redeem the State pledge by the 1st of May. The debate that ensued upon it took a wide latitude, and was characterized by some warmth and severity of remark,-not to be wondered at, perhaps, considering the peculiar state of things. If the resolution had been cordially assented to by the delegation from New York, the Board feel confident that the entire pledge would have been liquidated at the close of the last quarter. True, it was objected, that it gave no additional guaranty to the Executive Committee, that the money should be forthcoming but the delegation did great injustice to the meeting to insinuate, that little or no reliance could be placed upon any new promise, either on the part of the Board or the Society. Such a promise, made under such circumstances, and in view of a most pressing emergency, would unquestionably have been fulfilled. In the first place, it would have produced reconciliation of feeling and harmony of financial action till the 1st of May, if not for a longer period; and, secondly, it would have quickened many individuals to make large donations, as well as infused a new spirit into the various auxiliaries in the State. Besides, what has been gained by rejecting the resolution? Nay, what has not been lost by its rejection? Does the Parent Society expect to thrive upon a state of division and alienation in the State Society? Is more money to be obtained, when all confidence is at an end, and jealously and distrust are abroad, than when all are acting in harmony together? The meeting was greatly pained and surprised to see how this fraternal overture was received by the New York delegation. There seemed to be an apparent determination, on their part, not to regard any proffered terms of reconciliation, except such as they must have known could not be instantly fulfilled by the State Society.

In the course of the discussion, Mr. Birney remarked,

"If one, whose conscientions scruples led him wholly to repudiate the use of the elective franchise, were to consult me, as to the propriety of his joining the American Anti-Slavery Society, I should be bound to tell him, that he had not the qualifications required by the Constitution, and therefore OUGHT NOT to subscribe."