By The American Anti-Slavery Society 1839
"Behold the wicked abominations that they do!"—Ezekial, viii, 2.
"The righteous considereth the cause of the poor; but the wickedregardeth not to know it."—Prov. 29, 7.
"True humanity consists not in a squeamish ear, but in listening tothe story of human suffering and endeavoring to relieve it."—CharlesJames Fox.
NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY,
OFFICE,
No. 143 NASSAU STREET. 1839.
This periodical contains 7 sheets—postage, under 100 miles, 10-1/2cts; over 100 miles, 17-1/2 cents.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER. A majority of the facts and testimonycontained in this work rests upon the authority of slaveholders, whosenames and residences are given to the public, as vouchers for thetruth of their statements. That they should utter falsehoods, for thesake of proclaiming their own infamy, is not probable.
Their testimony is taken, mainly, from recent newspapers, published inthe slave states. Most of those papers will be deposited at the officeof the American Anti-Slavery Society, 143 Nassau street, New YorkCity. Those who think the atrocities, which they describe, incredible,are invited to call and read for themselves. We regret that all ofthe original papers are not in our possession. The idea of preservingthem on file for the inspection of the incredulous, and the curious,did not occur to us until after the preparation of the work was in astate of forwardness, in consequence of this, some of the paperscannot be recovered. Nearly all of them, however have beenpreserved. In all cases the name of the paper is given, and, withvery few exceptions, the place and time, (year, month, and day) ofpublication. Some of the extracts, however not being made withreference to this work, and before its publication was contemplated,are without date; but this class of extracts is exceedingly small,probably not a thirtieth of the whole.
The statements, not derived from the papers and other periodicals,letters, books, &c., published by slaveholders, have been furnished byindividuals who have resided in slave states, many of whom are nativesof those states, and have been slaveholders. The names, residences,&c. of the witnesses generally are given. A number of them, however,still reside in slave states;—to publish their names would be, in mostcases, to make them the victims of popular fury.
New York, May 4, 1839.
The Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, whiletendering their grateful acknowledgments, in the name of AmericanAbolitionists, and in b