History of the Negro Race in America Volume II Part 74

The Hon. LINN BANKS, _Speaker of the House of Delegates_.

_To his Excellency, the Governor of Virginia_:

SIR: Perceiving that a pamphlet published in this city has been a subject of animadversion and uneasiness in Virginia as well as in Georgia, I have presumed that it might not be amiss to apprize you of the sentiments and feelings of the city authorities in this place respecting it, and for that purpose I beg leave to send you a copy of my answer to a letter from the Mayor of Savannah, addressed to me on that subject. You may be a.s.sured that your good people cannot hold in more absolute detestation the sentiments of the writer than do the people of this city, and as I verily believe, the ma.s.s of the New England population. The only difference is, that the insignificance of the writer, the extravagance of his sanguinary fanaticism tending to disgust all persons of common humanity with his object, and the very partial circulation of this book, prevent the affair from being a subject of excitement and hardly of serious attention.

I have reason to believe that the book is disapproved of by the decent portion even of the free colored population in this place, and it would be a cause of deep regret to me, and I believe to all my well-disposed fellow-citizens, if a publication of this character, and emanating from such a source, should be thought to be countenanced by any of their number.

I have the honor to be respectfully, your obedient servant, H. G. OTIS, _Mayor of the City of Boston_.

BOSTON, Feb. 10, 1830.

_To the Mayor of Savannah_:

SIR: Indisposition has prevented an earlier reply to your favor of the 12th December. A few days before the receipt of it, the _pamphlet_ had been put into my hands by one of the Board of Aldermen of this city, who received it from an individual, it not having been circulated here. I perused it carefully, in order to ascertain whether the writer had made himself amenable to our laws; but notwithstanding the extremely bad and inflammatory tendency of the publication, he does not seem to have violated any of these laws. It is written by a free black man, whose true name it bears. He is a shopkeeper and dealer in old clothes, and in a conversation which I authorized a young friend of mine to hold with him, he openly avows the sentiments of the book and authors.h.i.+p. I also hear that he declares his intention to be, to circulate his pamphlets by mail, at his own expense, if he cannot otherwise effect his object.

You may be a.s.sured, sir, that a disposition would not be wanting on the part of the city authorities here, to avail themselves of any lawful means for preventing this attempt to throw firebrands into your country. We regard it with deep disapprobation and abhorrence. But, we have no power to control the purpose of the author, and without it we think that any public notice of him or his book, would make matters worse.

We have been determined, however, to publish a general caution to Captains and others, against exposing themselves to the consequences of transporting incendiary writings into your and the other Southern States.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant, H. G. OTIS.

Part 6.

_THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION._

CHAPTER XI.

LIST OF WORKS BY NEGRO AUTHORS.

"Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Va.s.sa." Autobiography. Boston, 1837.

"Light and Truth." Lewis (R. B.). Boston, 1844.

"Volume of Poems." Whitfield, (James M.). 1846.

"Volume of Poems." Payne, (Daniel A., D.D.). 1850.

"The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered." Delaney (Martin R.). Philadelphia, 1852.

"Principia of Ethnology: The Origin of Races and Color." Delaney (Martin R.).

"Narrative of the Life of an American Slave." London, 1847. "My Bondage and My Freedom." New York, 1855. "Life and Times." Hartford, Conn., 1882. Dougla.s.s (Frederick).

"Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," etc. Ward (Rev. Samuel Ringgold).

London, 1855.

"The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution." Nell (Wm. C).

Boston, 1855.

"Narrative of Solomon Northup." New York, 1859. "Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman." Rochester, 1861. Stewart (Rev.

Austin).

"The Black Man." Boston, Ma.s.s., 1863. "The Negro in the Rebellion."

Boston, 1867. "Clotelle." Boston, 1867. "The Rising Sun." Boston, 1874. "Sketches of Places and People Abroad." 1854. Brown (Wm. Wells, M.D.).

"An Apology for African Methodism." Tanner (Benj. T.). Baltimore, 1867.

"The Underground Railroad." Still (William). Philadelphia, 1872.

"The Colored Cadet at West Point." Flipper (H. O.), U. S. A. New York, 1877.

"Music and Some Highly Musical People." Trotter (James M.). Boston, 1878.

"My Recollections of African Methodism." Wayman (Bishop A. W.).

Philadelphia, Pa., 1881.

"First Lessons in Greek." Scarborough (W. S., A.M.). New York, 1882.

"History of the Black Brigade." Clark (Peter H.)

"Uncle Tom's Story of His Life." From 1789 to 1879. Henson (Rev.

Josiah). Boston.

"The Future of Africa." New York, 1862, Charles Scribner & Co.

"The Greatness of Christ," and other Sermons. Crummell (Rev.

Alexander, D.D.). T. Whittaker, 2 and 3 Bible House, New York, 1882.

"Not a Man and Yet a Man." Whitman (A. A.).

"Mixed Races." Sampson (John P.). Hampton, Va., 1881.

"Poems." Wheatley (Phillis). London, England, 1773.

"As a Slave and as a Freeman." Loguen (Bishop, J. W.).

CHAPTER XIII.

THE JOHN BROWN MEN.

The subjoined correspondence was published in the _Republican_, J. K.

Rukenbrod, editor, at Salem, Ohio, Wednesday, December 28, 1859. The beautiful spirit of self-sacrifice, the lofty devotion to the sublime principles of universal liberty, and the heroic welcome to the hour of martyrdom, invest these letters with intrinsic historic value.

LETTER FROM EDWIN COPPOCK TO HIS UNCLE JOSHUA COPPOCK.