Publication: The 19th Amendment Victory: A Newspaper History, 1762-1922 from National Anti-Slavery Standard
Date: MAY 6, 1865
Accesible ArchivesTitle: National Anti-Slavery Standard.WITHOUT CONCEALMENT—WITHOUT
WITHOUT CONCEALMENT—WITHOUT COMPROMISE.
THE Thirty-second Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY will be held in the City of New York, at the Church of the Puritans, on Union Square, on TUESDAY, May 9th, at 10 o'clock, a. m.
The Executive Committee urge upon all the members of the Society a prompt attendance at this meeting. The questions to come before it are of the greatest importance. Some members of the Committee propose, in view of the almost certain ratification of the Anti-Slavery Amendment of the United States Constitution, to dissolve the Society at this Annual Meeting; while others would postpone such dissolution until the ratification of that Amendment is officially proclaimed; and others still advocate continuing the Society's existence until all the civil rights of the negro are secured.
Beside this, whichever of these views receives the sanction of the Society, there is the further question whether the STANDARD shall be continued.
On these and other accounts our deliberations will be most interesting and important, and ought to assemble all the members and earnest friends of the Society.
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, President.
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The speakers for the Anniversary on Tuesday morning will be WENDELL PHILLIPS, GEORGE THOMPSON, Mrs. FRANCES WATKINS HARPER, and WM. LLOYD GARRISON.
BUSINESS MEETINGS.
The Society will meet for business in the Lecture Room of the Church of the Puritans, on Tuesday afternoon, at 3½ o'clock; and perhaps, also, on Wednesday morning and afternoon.
MEETINGS FOR ABOLITIONISTS.—Three public meetings, to be held in this city next week will be of special interest to Abolitionists, viz:
1. Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Tuesday morning, 10 o'clock, at the Church of the Puritans. Speakers—Phillips, Thompson, Mrs. Harper and Garrison.
2. Anniversary of the American Freedmen's Aid Union at the Cooper Institute Tuesday evening. Speakers —Gov. Andrew of Boston, John Jay, Esq., of New York, Frederick Douglass, and Rev. Phillips Brooks of Philadelphia.
3. Lecture of Anna E. Dickinson at the Cooper Institute Wednesday evening. Subject: “Our Martyred President. He, being dead, yet speaketh.”
The first two of these meetings will be free. Tickets for Miss Dickinson's lecture may be had beforehand at Miller and Mathews's bookstore, 757 Broadway, or at the door of the Cooper Institute Wednesday evening.
—So much for the public meetings. We add that the meetings of the American Anti-Slavery Society for business will commence on Tuesday afternoon at 3½ o'clock, in the Lecture Room of the Church of the Puritans. These also are open to all who wish to attend, though of interest mainly to members of the Society.
IT is not often that Farewell has a joyous sound in the ears of him that utters it. Seldomer yet that the last time of the performance of a long-accustomed task is without a tinge of melancholy. For it is but rarely that a work undertaken is fully accomplished, and that he that takes leave of it can feel that nothing more remains for him to do in the particular field which he is leaving. It is the rare felicity of the Abolitionists of the American Anti-Slavery Society to see the end of their specific mission—to feel that the purpose for which they banded themselves together is accomplished. The American Anti-Slavery Society was formed thirty-two years ago for the object of procuring the Abolition of Chattel Slavery. That opened its eyes to the fact that it must die or put slavery to death. It has chosen the better part of self-preservation. Congress has proposed an Amendment to the Constitution abolishing Slavery and making it impossible within the National domain, and twenty-six States have either ratified it, or are so certain to do so that their action may be taken for granted and acted upon as an accomplished fact. As it is now certain that none of the rebel States will be restored excepting on the basis of the immortal Proclamation of the illustrious Lincoln, which put an end to all legal slavery within their borders more than two years ago, there can be no question that the Amendment will have the sanction of every State yet to act upon it, and scarcely a doubt that the three States as yet recusant will reconsider their action and make the ratification unanimous. Virtually, and for all practical purposes which could make an extensive association necessary, slavery has ceased to exist, and the formality of the announcement of the action of the States must very soon supervene. Slavery being at an end, Anti-Slavery and the Society which it has brought together end with it, of necessity. An Anti-Slavery Society with no Slavery to oppose is a solecism and an absurdity. Nay more, it is an impossibility. If a body of men choose to call themselves an Anti-Slavery Society after slavery has legally ceased to be, it is but a name to live that they can have, and their efforts to appear to be doing what has already been done can be only vain, impotent and ridiculous. They may call themselves an Anti-Slavery Society, but they are and can be, in the nature of things, nothing of the kind.
With the organization the organ by which it speaks
ceases also. Our connection with the NATIONAL ANTI-SLAVERY
STANDARD, therefore, will end with this
number. THE STANDARD has been in existence exactly
a quarter of a century, of which period we have
been a part of its staff, as Corresponding Editor and
Correspondent, for twenty-one years. It has occupied
much of our time and thoughts and been a main object
of interest to us. That we have been always
well advised or judicious in what we have done and
written we will not affirm; but we can conscientiously
declare that we have had but a single eye to
our duty to the slaves in it all. It is not for us to
speak of the good work which this paper has done in
the due performance of its office. On that point let
other speak. Setting aside ourself, few weekly journals
have had a greater amount of talent engaged in
their service. Messrs. N. P. Rogers, D. L. Child, S.
H. Gay, Oliver Johnson, C. K. Whipple, James Russell
Lowell, Mrs. Lydia Maria Child and Mrs. Chapman
are among those who have at one time or another
been editors or regular contributors. Besides
these eminent names a score more, almost as well
known, might be recited of persons whose occasional
contributions, often frequent, have given strength and
brilliancy to the columns of THE STANDARD. We believe
that there are not many weekly papers that
have been more gladly welcomed and more highly
valued for the variety, piquancy and peculiar interest
of thier contents, and that there are few of its readers
that will not regret the discontinuance of its weekly
visits. But the necessity of an Anti-Slavery paper
has happily passed away with slavery itself. The
existence of THE STANDARD as an Anti-Slavery organ
ends with slavery, by the very conditions of its being.
Antagonism dies with the antagonist it lived only to
oppose. To endeavor to survive that happy conclusion
of the whole matter would be but to enter upon
a condition of decrepitude, dotage and lingering
decay, neither useful in life nor comely in death.
These being our opinions, and the opinions of the
majority of those who have been the most active and
influential members of the American Anti-Slavery
Society and the warmest supporters of THE STANDARD,
we shall withdraw from the Corresponding Editorship
after this number, and decline any farther active
coöperation with the Society. We know that it is
competent for the majority of the persons to assemble
in this city next week to vote that the Society and
THE STANDARD shall continue in existence. But there
are some things beyond the omnipotence even of majorities.
Unanimity itself could not make an
We are perfectly aware that the duty of the Abolitionists to aim at the elevation of the character and condition of the people of color, “so that they may, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the white of civil and religious privileges,” was made one of the articles of the Constitution. And we hold that this duty remains as imperative as ever it was on all members of the Society. But to suppose that the founders of the Society intended that, after its main objects—viz. the abolition of the domestic slave trade, of slavery in the District and the Territories, of the prohibition of new slave States, and above all the abolition of slavery itself, by a change of the Constitution—that after these objects were accomplished the Society was to remain in existence as an Anti-Slavery Society, for the furtherance of these incidental reforms, is to attribute a degree of sectarian fatuity to them that those clear-sighted and eminently practical men do not deserve. That article was a mere assertion of an incidental duty, connected necessarily with the discharge of the main duty of the Society, and a duty which has been most faithfully and effectively performed. The duty is as imperatively binding now as then. More so, indeed, for its performance is more and more plainly essential to the future safety and well-being, not merely of the black race but of the white as well. There is no question whatever as to the duty of Abolitionists to be diligent in the business of securing their rights to the colored race, North and South. But it is no longer a speciality of the Abolitionists, as it was in 1833 and for long years afterwards. It has outstripped the speed and overpassed the limits of the Anti-Slavery Movement, proper. They who think that the American Anti-Slavery Society should not continue its organic existence, merely as a Freedmen's Aid Society, after Slavery is abolished, are of that opinion not because they would not have the rights of the colored man maintained, but because they think that such action would be a hindrance rather than a help to that end. The Freedmen's Aid Associations, having for their object the elevation of the black race politically as well as morally and in material prosperity, are gaining vast dimensions. Of necessity, they must throw the American Anti-Slavery Society into the shade and dwarf all its operations by the extent and magnitude of their own. They are destined to become great political as well as philanthropic forces, and we think all the friends of the black man would do better to unite themselves to this great body than to keep themselves separate in a way which must make their best efforts comparatively unimportant and inoperative. Call themselves by what name they will, they can be nothing hereafter but a Freedmen's Aid Society, and an obscure and insignificant one. We do not think this a dignified ending of so glorious a Society, nor the best disposition of the energies and means of its members. But of that they will judge and decide for themselves.
But we have wandered from what we meant to say when we began. Our long habit of speaking at the moment to the topic of the moment has drawn us away from the retrospect of the long procession of events which has passed before us during the years that we have occupied this post of observation which we had proposed to ourselves. But this all our readers are as competent to make as we are ourselves. They all know the immense, the incredible, change in public sentiment which has taken place within the last quarter of a century, and which has culminated in the Abolition of Slavery throughout the land. And they know, too, the share which the Anti-Slavery result. It has cost many years and many lives, but they have been gladly bestowed and abundantly rewarded, as well in the toil as in the harvest. For our humble portion in that work we are devoutly grateful to Heaven as a chief blessing and happiness of our life. For all our short-comings and failures we entreat the kind consideration of our friendly readers. For all their kindness and indulgence towards us we return them our hearty thanks. But neither our work nor theirs is done, and we may hope to meet in other fields of labor. We do not part as if we were never to meet again. The scourge and the fetter are broken, but the wounds they have left behind are to be healed, and their scars removed from the souls as well as the bodies of the Freedmen. They are to be helped to rise to the dignity of Freemen, of “Men, high-minded Men,” such as only constitute a true State, and to be rehabilitated in all their natural, political and social rights. The platform of this Movement is the whole country, and its agencies all the political, ecclesiastical and social influences of American society. In this field we shall soon meet our life-long fellow-laborers and till then we bid them heartily farewell.
E. Q.
THE RESIDENT EDITOR, while heartily concurring in the views of his colleague as above expressed, will, for obvious reasons, remain at his post until after the Annual Meeting. If the Society shall vote to dissolve itself and discontinue its organ, it will still be necessary to issue at least two numbers more of the paper in order to complete the records of the Anniversary and make the needful explanations to the subscribers. If, on the other hand, those who hold that the STANDARD, during the past year, has been a “bitter partisan” of the Administration, and therefore “a fraud and disgrace upon the Society,” shall prove to be a majority, a little time may be necessary to make the arrangements which a change in the character of the paper will require. In these circumstances it is manifestly the duty of the Resident Editor to remain at his post until the pending questions are determined.
It may be well to say to those of our readers whose
terms of subscription have not expired, and who have
paid in advance for papers not yet printed, that the
Society, if it shall disband, will of course either return
their money or give them an equivalent in some other
paper—perhaps the
O. J.
THE WAY TO SPIKE THE ABOLITION GUN!—The New
York
“But there is another matter upon which President Johnson seems to be hesitating, and where he need not hesitate at all. We refer to the question of negro suffrage. The exclusion of free negroes from the right of suffrage is a necessity of negro slavery, but where slavery does not exist there is no such necessity. Give the emancipated negroes of the rebel States, then, in the reconstruction of those States, the right to vote along with the whites. There need be no fear that this concession will lead to negro social equality. Negroes vote in New York, and yet in New York there is no approach to negro social equality. Society will take care of itself in this matter, as it does in everything else affecting its peace and harmony. On the other hand the concession of negro suffrage in the reconstruction of the insurgent States will effectually spike the last gun of Northern Abolitionists, and will expel or neutralize the fire-eating political elements of the South for all time to come. Indeed, nothing half so effective could be employed as negro suffrage to weed out the intractable secessionists from the Southern States. Put them to that test of loyalty, and there will be no necessity for notices to quit or oaths of allegiance; but, best of all, the political agitation of the negro question, in every shape and form, will be ended, North and South.”
This mode of “spiking the guns of the Abolitionists”
will afford
ON Monday, the 10th inst., I sailed from New York for Charleston in the excursion steamer Oceanus, of the Neptune Steamship Co.'s line. Our party numbered about one hundred and eighty, representing the best intelligence, culture, and respectability of Brooklyn and New York. The day was slightly rainy, but quiet, and on the whole, auspicious. A more joyous company could scarcely have been assembled. The news of the surrender of Lee had just been received. Most hearty and enthusiastic congratulations passed from one to another that the monstrous slaveholders, rebellion had well nigh reached its end. Our outward voyage—sea sickness excepted—was a very pleasant one. The weather was remarkably favorable. The ocean pictures were varied, and much more beautiful than the best presentations by our artists. After we had been out one night there was a marked change in the condition of a considerable number of our party. That pest of voyaging—sea-sickness—would come, with its awful heaving, and subsequent most distressing all goneness! Words can convey no adequate conception of it. It must be thoroughly experienced, as in my own case, to be duly appreciated.
Among the incidents of the trip was a pleasantly exciting porpoise race. A few of the passengers on the second day out had the satisfaction—rare in these days of petroleum—of seeing a whale. A very pleasing and interesting feature of the trip was a series of musical entertainments, with addresses, each evening, in the spacious state-room hall. A good band of music accompanied the excursion, there was an excellent piano on board, and also a distinguished vocalist, Wm. B. Bradbury, Esq. Among the speakers at these several meetings were Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Hon. A. M. Wood, Mayor of Brooklyn, Rev. Mr. Putman, Rev. Mr. French, Edgar Ketchum, Esq., Rev. Mr. Gallagher, Dr. Joshua Leavitt, Col. Howard (in command of a colored regiment), Rev. Mr. Corning, C. A. Lewis, Esq., H. C. Bowen, Esq., Rev. Mr. Graves, and your correspondent. There was a hearty unanimity in condemnation of slavery, and a strong emphasis in favor of suffrage for the negro.
We arrived off Charleston harbor at half past three on the afternoon of Thursday, the 13th inst. On account of low tide we were obliged to remain outside the bar till six p. m. At that hour, having taken on board a trustworthy pilot, familiar with the harbor, we weighed anchor, and proceeded to the city. The spires of Charleston in the distance, Fort Sumter in the foreground, on the one side Fort Moultrie, on the other Forts Wagner and Gregg, awakened intense interest. All sea sickness disappeared. All were outside to gain a first view of these objects of historic interest. Wagner and Sumter were passed with uncovered heads.
It was our welcome mission to announce the joyful news in Charleston of Lee's surrender. As we passed one after another of the gunboats and monitors the welcome message was received with rapturous enthusiasm. The harbor and approach to the city has been so often described that I need not repeat it. The sunset occurred just as we were passing the Forts. It was of a most remarkable character. There had been a shower a short time previous. A few lingering clouds remained directly over and beyond the city. As the sun went down these clouds were most singularly and wonderfully illuminated, as if for that special occasion, representing distinctly the colors of our national emblem, the red, white and blue. We reached the wharf just after the twilight, too late to go ashore that evening. As we neared the wharf we were welcomed with hearty greeting. One voice, distinct from all the others shouted, “We welcome you to the friendly shores of South Carolina!” How strange that message sounded in our ears! Three short months before, in the same position, and how soon we should have been consigned to horrible imprisonment, or visited with instant death!
Our Committee of Arrangements reported at once to the General commanding, and shortly after a member of his staff came on board and welcomed us as guests to the city, proffering to us facilities for an excursion to various points of interest the next morning, and free transportation at the appointed hour to witness the ceremonies of the re-raising of the flag upon Fort Sumter.
were astir to get the first daylight view of Charleston.
In company with Mr. Cary of the Brooklyn
At ten o'clock a. m. we were summoned on board the
steamer Golden Gate, kindly placed at our service,
for Fort Sumter. Among the crowded steamers which
were to convey eager visitors to the historic old Fort,
none attracted more attention than the celebrated
Planter, commanded by Capt. Robert Small. Of the
original Charlestonians now left in this city he may
very properly be regarded as
Within the limits which I propose for this letter I will not attempt to give the details of the ceremonies of the day, a pretty full account of which you will have published. Mr. Beecher spoke with great power and eloquence. His address was an able statement and a happy solution of our national problem. I could have wished from him a more emphatic expression, as in his Plymouth Church preaching, in behalf of the negro's rights as a citizen in the future administration of government in the rebellious districts. All the exercises were successfully carried out according to the programme of arrangements. It was an event so thrilling in interest, so full of historic significance, that it will not soon be forgotten by any who were present. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, after surveying in detail the Fort, we returned to Charleston, reaching there at about five p. m.
During the evening of the 14th, there was a brilliant display of fireworks from the vessels in the harbor in commemoration of the surrender of Lee. A banquet was given at the Charleston Hotel by Gen. Gillmore, at which addresses were made by Senator Wilson, Mr. Garrison, George Thompson, Theodore Tilton, Judge Holt and others. A ball was given by Gen. Hatch, which was largely attended. Not the least interesting feature of the evening was a reception given on board the Oceanus to Capt. Robert Small. He made an informal address, in relation to his life as a slave, his escape with the Planter, and the present condition of affairs in South Carolina, which very much interested all who listened to him. He distrusts all such pretended loyalists as Gov. Aiken, and (as I believe wisely) thinks the Federal cause likely to suffer at their hands. On Saturday I visited many points of interest, to speak in detail of which would make my letter too extended for your space. In its original structure Charleston was a better built city than I had anticipated. But it has suffered greatly from shells and fire, also from the necessities of the rebels, who have taken up the pavements to build and strengthen fortifications in the harbor.
I visited the headquarters of the slave-traders, where so many husbands and wives, parents and children, young men and beautiful maidens, have been sold as cattle, also the horrible jail where unwilling and disobedient slaves were sent for punishment and torture. All is changed now, and may they never again be resurrected to their former diabolical uses. I visited also the ruins of Secession Hall, of the North Eastern Railroad Depot (where upwards of four hundred men, women and children, mostly slaves, were said to have been blown up, killed and buried in ruins by the fiendishness of one Maj. Pringle), the grave of Calhoun, the celebrated palmetto tree, enclosed by an iron fence on East Bay st., the deserted newspaper offices, banks, post-office building, churches, etc., etc. All have felt severely the heavy, punishing hand of war.
The distinguishing event of the day was a mass meeting of the freed people called by Gen. Saxton, and held upon Citadel Square and in Zion Church. Fully ten thousand were assembled. They were of all ages, and all shades of complexion. Notwithstanding all they have suffered, and their present privations which are many, joy and thanksgiving seemed universal among them in their newly-acquired freedom.
Mr. Garrison met from them a most hearty, touching and enthusiastic reception. I felt it a rich compensation for the sea-sickness of the voyage, and for arduous anti-slavery labor in past years, to witness his advent in that hitherto most oppressive of Southern cities, and the heartfelt greeting extended to him by the assembled thousands of those for whom his life has been so nobly consecrated.
Some artist equal to the task should have been present to reproduce, as a contribution to the historic pictures of this country, that first meeting, in the stronghold of slavery and home of the rebellion, of the Liberator and the liberated!
In Zion Church, where the main meeting was held, Mr. Garrison was presented with two very beautiful bouquets from the hands of two daughters of Samuel Dickerson, accompanied by an address of welcome from the father, which surprised, astonished and deeply moved every Northerner who listened to it. It was eloquent, pathetic, clear and accurate, and would have honored any head and heart. The father and daughters were slaves until recently, had been sold asunder, but reunited by the fortunes of the war. Mr. Garrison's response was very happy, in which he addressed to the freed people words of timely and most excellent counsel as to their duties as free men and women, industry, education, sobriety, and after alluding to his labors in the past, assured them that he should still continue to urge for them all that he would claim for white men.
Senator Wilson, Judge Kelley, George Thompson and Theodore Tilton followed with addresses which I cannot in this letter attempt to sketch, but which I wish could be published in full and read throughout the country. They were eloquent, well-timed, recognized fully the claims of the negro to enfranchisement, and could scarcely have been better appreciated in their special points of excellence by a Cooper Institute audience.
There is a better average intelligence among the former slaves, both of the city and from the plantations, than I expected to find. There is less with the latter, but in their case it is superior to such of the poor whites as I saw. While the meeting of which I have spoken was in progress, another outside of about three thousand children was addressed by Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, and still another, immense in numbers, upon Citadel Square, was addressed by Maj. M. R. Delany, a Senator from Michigan, Joseph Hoxie, Esq., of New York, and others. At the conclusion of the ceremonies a large procession was formed and paraded the streets.
But few of the whites, of whom we were told considerable numbers were in the city, showed themselves. Those whom we did meet expressed in their faces sullen contempt and hatred. The snake of secession, the evil genius of slavery, is “scotched” but not killed.
During the afternoon of Saturday I went three miles out of the city to see about two thousand newly-arrived freed people, brought in from sixty miles in the interior by a raiding party of which Lieut. George Thompson Garrison was a member. These people are in a most destitute and forlorn condition as they arrive. They hastily leave everything to escape with our soldiers from the keeping of the murderous and exasperated secessionists of the interior. These people represent the reign of terror which prevails beyond the outer Federal military lines as horrible in the extreme. Their statements were confirmed by Lieut. Garrison and other officers with whom I conversed.
The guerillas prowl about among the negroes, shooting indiscriminately such as they may suspect of having a purpose to escape to the Yankees. With the main armies of the rebellion now broken, it will need an army of occupation for a considerable period to render it possible for the freed people four only true friends, with few exceptions) to live in the neighborhood of the defeated and exasperated whites. Incendiary fires are frequent now in Charleston, lighted by men who have “taken the oath,” but are no less rebels than before.
To the officers in command at Charleston we were under much obligation for kind attentions and courtesy, adding much to the enjoyment of our visit. There are some things, of which I would like to speak, of which I can make no note in this letter.
We left Charleston for Fortress Monroe at 9 a. m. on Sunday, the 16th inst. The day was bright and beautiful and the ocean as quiet as its constantly moving waters ever are. During the day, religious services were held on board, conducted in the morning by Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, in the afternoon by Rev. Mr. Gallagher. Our return trip, with less sea sickness, was without special incident, until as we neared Fortress Monroe we were overshadowed, and for the time overwhelmed, by the dark cloud of the nation's sorrow. From a pilot boat we received the message, “the President is dead,” and at Fortress Monroe we learned the full details of the horrible tragedy. It was our expectation, with a permit from Mr. Stanton, to have visited Petersburg and Richmond, but it was decided to sail direct to New York. Sorrow prevailed universally at Fortress Monroe, but it was most touching to meet the poor negroes who grieved and wept for one whom they regarded as a special protector and friend. On the following day, at the hour appointed for the obsequies at Washington, a meeting was held on board the Oceanus with appropriate commemorative addresses. The weather was unusually fine, and the ocean calm and beautiful as we had not seen it before.
A business meeting was held, at which our party was resolved into a permanent organization to be known as the “Sumter Club.” A committee was also appointed to prepare and publish a memorial volume of the trip. Resolutions acknowledging our indebtedness to the officers in command at Charleston, to Capt. Young and his associates of the Oceanus, and to Messrs. S. M. Griswold, Edwin A. Studwell and Edward Carey, our excellent committee of arrangements, were unanimously adopted. To this committee much credit is due for projecting the excursion, and for the very efficient manner in which it was conducted throughout. We reached New York at four p. m. on the 20th inst, to find the city we left ten days previous in the midst of most enthusiastic rejoicing, literally shrouded with emblems of mourning.
The martyr President is immortal in history. If a sterner hand is now at the helm it will better meet the exigencies of this reconstruction period. I left Charleston with the conviction more deeply impressed upon my mind that our impending danger was from a mistaken leniency which would not prove to be kindness but cruelty. The assassination should serve to make this impression general. It symbolizes the spirit of the disappointed, defeated slaveholders. Their hearts are full of murder.
The negroes should have employment, education, enfranchisement. Every Confederate soldier and avowed traitor should be disfranchised, the large landed estates confiscated and the negroes and soldiers allowed to preëmpt therefrom homesteads. Thus with a period of territorial rule, wisely advocated by Mr. Sumner, loyal, stable government may take root and grow. Welcome are these days of returning quiet, if only through justice, righteousness and impartial freedom they may be made fruitful in a true and perfect peace.
Very truly your friend,
AARON M. POWELL.
Brooklyn, N. Y, April 25, 1865.
AMERICAN FREEDMEN'S AID UNION.—The first anniversary of this association will be held at Cooper Institute on Tuesday evening, May 9, at half-past seven o'clock. The President, Judge Hugh L. Bond, of Baltimore, will occupy the chair, and among the speakers engaged are Gov. Andrew, John Jay, Frederick Douglass, and Rev. Phillips Brooks. Delegations from the constituent Societies of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, and (it is expected) New York, will attend the meeting, which promises to be one of the most interesting of the week. The scope of the Freedmen's movement, and the special design of forming the Union will doubtless be fully elucidated by the distinguished speakers above enumerated. We hope that all those whose sympathies have been enlisted in the cause of the enslaved will be present for a new baptism in the cause of the emancipated —which is nothing else than that of the Republic itself.
DEAR SIR: At your request, I now furnish you with a brief outline of my trip, in company with our honored friend Mr. Garrison, to South Carolina, to witness the raising of the “Old Flag” upon the ruins of Fort Sumter.
The Arago was the good ship in which we sailed from New York on Saturday the 8th instant. We found on board five persons who were at Fort Sumter on the day when the United States flag was lowered to the slaveholding insurgents of the South. These were Major-General Robert Anderson, General Doubleday Colonel Norman L. Hall, Chaplain the Rev. Matthias Harris, and Sergeant Peter Hart. Amongst the guests invited by the government were the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the Rev. Dr. Storrs, Senator H. Wilson, Generals Dix and Delafield, Commodore Rowan, Judge Kelley, M. C., Judge Swayne, of the Supreme Court, Judge Advocate Holt, and many other distinguished personages. Never has it been my good fortune to travel with a party, the members of which were more congenial in their dispositions, more affable or amiable in their manners, or more solicitous to promote the enjoyment of their fellow-voyagers.
Sunday, the 9th, was a lovely day. The heavens were blue and cloudless, the sea calm and waveless; the air still and balmy; the climate warm and delicious. In the forenoon, the whole of the company assembled on the after deck, under an awning, to listen to a discourse from the Rev. Dr. Storrs, who preached eloquently, from the text—“Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” In the evening, at six, we anchored for a short time off Fortress Monroe, and there received on board General E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General; General Fry, Provost Marshal General; Mr. Hooper, M. C., from Boston, and other gentlemen.
On Tuesday evening, the 11th, at 8 o'clock, we sighted the lights of Port Royal, and were alongside the pier at midnight. On Wednesday morning, the 12th, a part of our company proceeded on the Steamer Diamond to visit Beaufort. Mr. Garrison, Mr. Theodore Tilton, and myself, were amongst those who went in the steamer Delaware to the city of Ssvannah, Georgia. We landed about 2 o'clock, and remained till nearly six. Savannah wore the appearance of a ruined and deserted city. No ships lay at its wharves; no cotton filled its sheds and storehouses; the offices of the brokers and the principal stores were closed; a part of the town had been destroyed by fire, and most of the best houses were untenanted. Away from the business part of the city, we traversed some good streets and pleasant parks and squares. During our ramble we met but few persons who were not either Union soldiers, or persons like ourselves from the Northern States. The native Georgians regarded us with sullen indifference, or looks of hatred and contempt.
On the morning of Thursday the 13th, at the invitation of Lieutenant-Colonel Woodford, we attended a meeting of the freed population of the town of Mitchelville, in which a municipal government had been organized the day before. Mitchelville is about two miles from Port Royal, and is inhabited, exclusively, by recently emancipated blacks. The meeting was held in the Church. We were received by the newly elected Mayor, who is also the minister. The building was crowded to its utmost capacity. After singing and prayer, addresses were delivered by Mr. Garrison, Judge Kelley, Mr. Joseph Hoxie of New York, Judge Kellogg of Michigan, Mr. Tilton and myself. The proceedings were of the most interesting and enthusiastic character. Besides the speakers, a number of passengers in the Arago were present, including Judge Holt. Colonel Woodford made a statement relating to the origin and growth of the town, and bore testimony to the good conduct of the people, who, he said, had exhibited the noblest traits of character, and had coöperated with him in all his efforts to organize them into a settled and self-governed community. Mitchelville contains, at present, about 2,500 inhabitants. The town shows all the symptoms of industry, progress and future prosperity. Late in the evening we weighed our anchor and directed our course for Charleston.
On coming upon deck on Friday the 14th, we found ourselves lying at anchor off Charleston harbor, at a distance of about seven miles from the shore. We could see Fort Sumter, Forts Wagner and Gregg, and, in the distance, the spires of the city. About half-past 8 the Diamond steamer, from Charleston harbor, came within speaking distance of the Arago, bearing the intelligence of the surrender of Gen. Lee. We also obtained from her a New York paper containing the particulars. This news diffused the utmost joy amongst those on board. After volleys of cheers, and the playing of national airs by the band, the Rev. H. W. Beecher offered up a thanksgiving prayer. After breakfast, we proceeded in the steamer Delaware to Fort Sumter. It is not necessary that, in this sketch, I should describe the ceremonies connected with the re-hoisting of “The Flag.” You will have obtained, from abler pens than mine, accounts of that memorable event. We stept ashore at Charleston between seven and eight in the evening, and on our way to the Charleston Hotel, visited the slave mart, from which have been brought to New England the steps of the auction block, from which Mr. Garrison has already addressed several public meetings. The day closed with a supper, over which Gen. Gillmore presided, having on his right hand Mr. Garrison, and on his left Judge Holt. At the conclusion of the repast addresses were delivered by Judge Kelley, Judge Holt, Gov. Anderson of Ohio (brother to the General), Mr. Garrison, and myself. Little did we dream that, while mingling in this festive scene, the loved and honored President of the United States had been sent to his account by the incarnated spirit of the accursed slave system.
Before breakfast on the morning of the 15th I visited various parts of the city, and returned to the hotel with a large quantity of curious documents, selected from the vast heaps of papers lying on the floors of the rooms of the Court House, where those who enter are permitted to help themselves. After breakfast, in company with Mr. Beecher, the Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler and Mr. Tilton, I visited the tomb of the father of secession, John C. Calhoun. From there we proceeded to the house of Gov. Aiken, with whom we had a long and interesting interview, some account of which I may hereafter give you. While we were with the Governor, Mr. Garrison was paying a visit to an encampment of negroes, about three miles from the city. These persons, nearly 2,000 in number, had been brought from the plantations in the interior. When informed of the character and labors of their Northern visitor, they gave the great Liberator an enthusiastic reception, and testified their gratitude to him, and others by whom their emancipation had been wrought out, in the most demonstrative manner.
From the residence of Gov. Aiken I proceeded to Zion Church, a large building erected some years ago by the slaves. Here I found a congregation assembled, amounting to nearly three thousand, all but about fifty of whom were black, and who, five weeks before, were slaves. This great meeting was addressed by Senator Wilson, Judge Kelley, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Tilton, Major Delany and myself. Simultaneously with the meeting in Zion Church, an immense out-door meeting was held in the Citadel Square, where a massive platform had been erected, from which addresses were delivered by various gentlemen. At the conclusion of these meetings a procession of emancipated slaves was formed to escort the speakers to their hotel. It was preceded by a military band, immediately after which walked Mr. Garrison, between Gen. Saxton and Senator Wilson. The procession (adults and children together) was more than a mile long. Mr. Garrison and his friends, on reaching the hotel, ranged themselves on the sidewalk, in front, and stood uncovered, while the redeemed ones passed by. “John Brown” was the song they sang—with special emphasis on the line, “We'll hang Jeff. Davis on a sour apple tree.”
After dinner, all the passengers brought by the Arago departed in that vessel, with the exception of Mr Beecher, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Tilton, myself, and a few others who remained to accompany Mr. Beecher, in another vessel, for the purpose of seeing some other parts of the coast, and of paying a visit to Florida. It was the intention of the party to return, by way of Fortress Monroe, Richmond and Washington, to the North.
On Sunday morning, the 16th, Mr. Beecher preached an excellent and appropriate sermon in Zion Church, which was crowded to overflowing, and presented a magnificent spectacle of well dressed, joyous and devout emancipated slaves;
In the afternoon the same building was densely crowded with adults and the children of the Sabbath schools, brought together to hear addresses from William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Tilton and George Thompson. At the close, three boys, who had been slaves were introduced by Mr. James Redpath, the Government Superintendent of Schools in Charleston, for the purposes of presenting Mr. Garrison with three bound volumes containing the business correspondence, through a series of years, of a Charleston slave-dealer These volumes Mr. Garrison has brought to Boston, and will doubtless make good use of their contents, to illustrate the nature of the infernal traffic to which they relate.
It being known that Mr. Garrison, Mr. Beecher, and their friends, would depart by the Delaware on Monday morning, the wharf at which that vessel lay was at an early hour crowded by blacks, anxious to say farewell to their benefactors. On the arrival of the party on the deck of the vessel, a noble-looking freed negro delivered an energetic address to Mr. Garrison—an address characterized not alone by extreme earnestness, but by great natural eloquence, and a remarkable command of language. Mr. Garrison responded in a brief but admirable speech—concluding by introducing his friend from England, who said a few parting words. Some appropriate sentences from Mr. Tilton terminated the proceedings, and the vessel glided into the harbor amidst the benedictions and acclamations of the most remarkable and significant assemblage upon which I have ever gated. As the vessel left the wharf, the most conspicuous object was Samuel Dickinson, the black orator, upon his knees, upholding the Union Flag with his right arm, while his left encircled his two daughters —interesting girls of seven and nine years of age. Never can the scene be forgotten by any whose privilege it was to behold it.
We proceeded to Port Royal, and from thence ascended to Beaufort, where we spent the night.
On Tuesday, the 18th, we crossed to St. Helena Island, and were conveyed in carriages to Saxtonville, a settlement of Freedmen, about 8 miles in the interior. On our return to Beaufort we found a telegram from Gen. Gillmore, addressed to Senator Wilson, conveying the intelligence of the assassination of the President. This appalling information led to an immediate determination to return at once to New York. In two hours we were an board the Suwo-Nada, from which vessel we landed on Friday morning, the 21st inst.
Here is a naked record of our movements, and the principal occurrences attending them.
Your truly,
GEORGE THOMPSON.
Boston, April 24, 1865.
PHILADELPHIA, April 18, 1865.
DEAR MR. JOHNSON: Your reader will remember
the case of Captain Baylis, of whom I used to write in
the ANTI-SLAVERT STANDARD. He was the commander
of a small craft called the
These words have proved true. A few days ago, I received a letter from Capt. Baylis announcing that he was once more at liberty, and back against at his old home in Wilmington. Since then I have had a letter from his wife—Martha Baylis—in which she thus speaks:
“When they liberated my husband from the penitentiary they put him into Castle Thunder, without a blanket or anything to lie on but the bare floor, which was full of what they call greenbacks, and he says they had like to have eaten him up. They barely gave him food enough to sustain life, and they sent him home without money, and in fact almost without clothes. He was so very weak and looked so bad that his friends do not know him. He was taken sick the first of February. When he got home, the Doctor was sent for, who did the best he could for him Now he is getting about, but is very weak yet. He thought he would try to get to work this week, but he found he could not stand it. He came home so sick, I am afraid he will never have his health again, and I cannot tell what it is best to do. They even whipped him while he was in prison. There is no one who can tell how he suffered in that place. I thank God that he was spared to get home to his friends.
“I did not know how to ask for help. If I could only get him in a little store; but I don't know how to get one. If you can give me any advice, please drop me a few lines, and you will oblige me very much. If my husband could come up to see you, I should like it. Mr. Still sent him ten dollars. You and he are the only ones that have offered him any help.”
My object in repeating this story will easily be seen. It is to give to your readers—such of them as may be so disposed—an opportunity of relieving the necessities and promoting the comfort of this much injured and long-suffering couple. I am authorized to say that Thos. Garrett, of Wilmington, Del., will gladly receive, as he will faithfully appropriate, any and all monies that may be sent him for this purpose. Mrs. Baylis's expectations in this matter are not large. “Fifty or a hundred dollars,” as she elsewhere expresses it, would be all they would look for.
If the amount sent to Friend Garrett should considerably exceed this, no harm would be done. The givers would not feel it, except as a pleasure, and the receivers would have some compensation for their long night of suffering
Truly yours,
J. M. MCKIM.
FEARS OF SOUTHERN LOYALISTS.—The earnest loyalist
of North Carolina, and of other rebel States as well, are
not a little anxious lest the Government at Washington,
by a mistaken clemency to the leaders and promoters
of the rebellion, shall put them (the loyalists) once more
under the heel of their oppressors. Their fears find
expression in the Raleigh
“We do not desire to dictate to Gen. Sherman, Gen. Grant, or the government at Washington, but we do most solemnly protest against those State officers who have tyrannized over us for the last two year. Give us a military government and protection at the polls until we can elect new civil officers, and we shall be satisfied; but if those who have heretofore enslaved us he allowed to remain over us, all our devotion to a Constitutional Union and all our sacrifices are in vain. Give us entire freedom through the constitutional mode of the ballot-box, or give as abject slavery. No more of Davis, no more of Vance. We speak not for ourselves, but for the people of North Carolina, and we appeal to the Union armies and the national authorities to save us.”
The correspondent of the
“The great thing now to be guarded against is the
attempt to restore the old Slavocratic and Rebel dynasty,
which. I am sorry to say, is receiving the approval of men
in high position, and some Generals, who are evidently
anxious to lay an anchor to windward for the next Presidency.
The
Who are the “men in high position” and “some of
the Generals” alluded to by the
TESTIMONY OF AN ENEMY.—The
“The negro troops of the Federal forces in Richmond are spoken of by gentlemen of that city in terms of earnest praise. The deportment of these colored soldiers has been marked by delicate respect for the citizens of the fallen stronghold. So orderly were they in their conduct on entering the city, that they checked all disposition to license, and even stopped an attempt at general plunder on the part of the slave mob of the city. We feel it a duty of justice to the black soldiers of his command, and to Gen. Weitzel himself, to declare here that their conduct toward the people of Richmond was such as to have reflected credit not only on that officer, but on every colored man in his command.”
Is it not about time for the
Gen. Banks assumed command of the Department of the Gulf on the 22d ult.
Marshal O. Roberts of this city has given $10,000 toward the fund of $100,000 proposed to be raised for the widow of the martyred President.
All the private and official papers of President Lincoln have been carefully collected, sealed up and forwarded to Judge Davis, of Bloomington, Illinois.
A sculptor of some notoriety and no excess of loyalty applied to Secretary Stanton for permission to take a cast of Booth's head. The blunt war minister replied: “Better take care of your own head.”
Three mercantile firms in this city have contributed each the sum of $10,000 toward a fund of $1,000 000, to be offered as a reward for the capture of Jeff. Davis. It is a great deal of money to pay for so mean a man.
Gen. Grant's house, which the denizens of the City of Brotherly Love have presented to that officer, has been thoroughly furnished in the best manner and was to have been occupied for the first time by the General's family on Monday.
Rev. C. L. Brace, Secretary of the Children's Aid Society, has gone to London, to attend an International Convention of Reformatories, and to examine the institutions of charity and methods of reform of Great Britain, and all their movement affecting the condition of the lower class.
Andrew Jackson, Jr., died of lockjaw, occasioned by his accidentally shooting himself while hunting near the old Hermitage. He was a son of President Jackson's wife's brother, and a cousin to Andrew J. Donelson. He was 56 years old, and leaves a wife, daughter and one son, now a rebel prisoner. Another son was killed in the rebel service.
The Rev. John Todd, D. D., of Pittsfield, Mass., refused to read Gov. Andrew's Fast-day Proclamation to his congregation, because, as he said, it contained no allusion to our Savior! The Doctor, we presume, never reads the Lord's Prayer in his Church, as that is open to the same objection; and as a consistent man, he must also put the Ten Commandments under ban.
Mr. Wm. P. Powell, of this city, a well educated and very capable colored man, highly esteemed by all who know him, has been appointed Notary Public by Gov. Fenton. He has the honor of being the first man appointed by a Governor of New York to such an office, but he will not be the last Gov. Fenton deserves credit for administering this rebuke to the hateful spirit of caste.
Miss Edmonia Lewis, the young colored sculptor, with whose name our readers are already familiar, intends, we are informed, to visit this city next week, with photographs of her principal works. The best-known of these are John Brown, a medallion, and Col. Robert G. Shaw, a bust. These and the others display great merit in the artist, and we trust both her pictures and her plaster will command a ready sale wherever exposed.
The Rev. J. T. Duryea, of the Dutch Reformed Church of this city, an out-and-out anti-slavery man, while journeying toward Niagara Falls, a few days since, had the misfortune to be taken by a passenger for the assassin Booth, on account of his strong resemblance to the published pictures of that bad man. On arriving at the Falls, he was followed to the hotel, and finally arrested. He was soon able, however, to establish his identity.
Gen. Hurlburt has assigned the “Soulé mansion,” in New Orleans, to Mrs. Louise DeMortie, of Boston, for an Orphans’ Home, if sustained without charge to the government. A fair for the benefit of orphans of freedmen has been projected by Mrs. DeM., which was to commence on May-day. All benevolent persons are asked to contribute. Among the committee of arrangements is Mrs. J. B. Roudanez, lady of the talented colored gentleman who, last Spring, was one of the guests at the complimentary dinner, at the Revere House, in honor of the loyal men of Louisiana.
The Charleston
“There is scarcely a man born in the South who has lifted his hand against this banner but had a father who would have died for it. Is memory dead? Is there no historic pride? Has a fatal fury struck blindness or hate into eyes that used to look kindly toward each other; that read the same Bible; that hung over the historic pages of our national glory; that studied the same Constitution?”
A characteristic act of kindness is told of Mr. Lincoln. After our troops had entered Charleston, he wrote a letter to the commanding officer there, directing him to inquire after the family of the late James L. Petigru, and to provide them with whatever they might need. He enclosed fifty dollars as a personal contribution toward their wants, if they should be in a condition to require it. Special instructions were also given to secure them full protection and the quiet occupation of their home. Mr. Petigru had lost everything by his devotion to the Union. A considerable sum of money has lately been raised in New York and Boston for the relief of his destitute family.
The arrangements for the erection of monument to Mr. Lincoln in this city are progressing most satisfactorily. Money is being subscribed freely in all quarters. Many public institutions, associations, lodges and corporate bodies are making collections, and subscription lists are very generally circulated throughout the different offices, hotels and other places of frequent resort. It is probable that the sum of fifty thousand dollars will be raised in a very short time, so universal is the desire of all classes to unite in this well-deserved tribute to a good and just man. It is in contemplation to erect a bronze statue of Mr. Lincoln on the south-west corner of Union square, opposite the equestrian statue of Washington, for which it will be a most appropriate companion.
President Johnson's daughter, Mrs. Stover, who is to preside over the affairs at the White House, in consequence of the ill-health and advanced years of Mrs Johnson, is a widow. The lady's late husband, Col. Stover, of the 4th Tennessee volunteers, was killed on the 18th day of December last, white gallantly leading his regiment at the battle of Nashville. Andrew Johnson's son, Dr. Charles Johnson, was a surgeon in the volunteer service. He was suddenly killed in 1863, by being thrown from his horse. The President has now four children living, namely, Robert, Mrs. Patterson, Mrs. Stover, the lady above mentioned, and Andrew Johnson, junior, the latter a bright youth, of nearly the same age as the youngest boy of our late lamented President, Abraham Lincoln.
Charles Lanman, compiler of the “Dictionary of Congress,” when he commenced his labors upon that work, sent to all the ex-members whose residences were known to him a circular, asking each one for information as to the date and place of his birth, the character of his education, his profession or occupation, and a list of any public positions he might have filled. Looking over, since the late terrible tragedy, the answers to this circular, he found the following modest record in the handwriting of Abraham Lincoln. It is a valuabe autograph.
Born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky.
Education defective.
Profession, a lawyer.
Have been a Captain of volunteers in the Black Hawk war.
Postmaster at a very small office.
Four times member of the Illinois Legislature.
And was a member of the lower House of Congress.
Yours, etc.,
A. LINCOLN.
The Chicago
“He had commissioned one of our citizens to look about the city, and before the close of his present term of office, to secure the refusal of a comfortable residence on some pleasant and suitable street. He felt a warm attachment for the people of Chicago, for what they had done for him before he became President and for their unwavering and powerful support through the dark days of his first term. If the matter had been left to the first choice of the stricken widow of the fallen chief, she would have directed that his ashes should repose on old Michigan's shore near those of his great compeer and friend, Stephen A. Douglas There would be a manifest fitness of things in placing the mortal remains of those great sons of Illinois side by side. But the strenuous desires of Springfield friends of the President prevailed in selecting the place of interment. The sudden death of the President prevented him from expressing any opinion or preference in relation to a choice of cemetery.”
* AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. NOAH WEBSTER, L. L. D. Thoroughly Revised, and Greatly Enlarged and Improved, by CHAUNCEY A. GOODRICH, D. D., LLD., late Professor of Rhetorie and Oratory and also Professor of the Pastoral; Charge in Yale College, and Noah PORTER, D. D., Clark Professor of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics in Yale College, Springfield, Mass: G. & C. Merriam. 1864.
THIRTY-FIVE years have elapsed since Dr. Webster first
gave his great work to the world. It was the fruit of
long and patient research and toil. Johnson's Dictionary,
which had been in use for seventy years, had undergone
but slight improvement during that whole period;
and some estimate of the extent and importance
of Dr. Webster's labors may be formed from the fact
that his work contained twelve thousand words and
between thirty and forty thousand definitions not
found in Johnson's or any other English Dictionary.
It is hardly too much to say that it was a
Dr. Webster lived to publish revised edition of his work in 1840–41. After his death, in 1843, his son-in-law, Prof. Goodrich, devoted two or three years, with the aid of accomplished assistants, to the revision and preparation of a new edition, which was published in 1847. After this Prof. Goodrich became the permanent editor of the work. He devoted himself to the task for twelve or thirteen years, but died in 1860, and the materials which he had collected were by other hands used in the preparation of a new edition, published in 1859, and known as the “Pictorial Edition.” The additions consisted of an Appendix of between nine and ten thousand new words and meanings; an elaborate treatise on English Synonyms, which Dr. Goodrich had designed to publish as a separate work; eighty pages of Pictorial Illustrations, over fifteen hundred in number; and several valuable Explanatory and Pronouncing Tables and Vocabularies.
The English language, however, is not stationary,
but progressive. Old words become obsolete; new
thoughts require new words, or invest old ones
with new meanings; new discoveries and investigations
necessitate new names; improvements in
art and science demand new terms and appellations;
and as the philosophy of language comes to be better
understood, changes, of greater or less importance, are
required in the definitions of many words. A dictionary
of the language, therefore, to serve its most important
uses, requires occasional revision and modification;
and the present edition of Webster has accordingly
been thoroughly revised in all its departments by
some of the most competent scholars in Europe and
America, under the general supervision, first, of the
late Dr. Goodrich, and, since his death, of the Rev. Dr.
Porter. The Etymology was revised by Dr. C. A. F.
Mahn, of Berlin—favorably known by his special researches
in this department—who spent five years upon
the task. The definitions, in which lay the great
strength of Webster, have been revised by eminent
gentlemen, each laboring in the department for which
he was specially qualified. Prof. William D. Whitney
and Daniel C. Gilman have labored at the definitions of
the principal words, recasting, rearranging and condensing
them, according to the principles sanctioned
by Webster. Prof. Lyman has given his attention to
the terms in Mathematics. Physics, Technology and
Machinery. Prof. Craighill of West Point has given
like attention to terms in Military Science, Engineering,
etc. Prof. Dana, assisted by Dr. W. C. Minor,
was employed in the Department of Geology and
Natural History. The terms pertaining to Musical
Science and Art were chiefly prepared of revised by
Lowell Mason and John S. Dwight. In Physiological
and Medical Science, Prof. R. C. Stiles, M. D., furnished
many carefully considered definitions and emendations.
The Hon. J. C. Perkins of Salem, Mass., with great labor
and care, revised the terms of Law and Jurisprudence.
E. B. O'Callaghan, S. J., revised the definitions
of such terms as have a special meaning in the Catholic
Church. The Rev. Chauncey Goodrich revised or
prepared many of the definitions in Agriculture and
Horticulture, in Antiquities and Architecture, in Biblical
matters and Ecclesiastical History, in Commerce,
Domestic Economy, and the Fine Arts, making use of
the best authorities in these departments. Webster's
has been long accounted by scholars—even those
who condemned his spelling of certain classes of words
—the best
The edition of 1859 contained 99,798 words; the present contains upwards of 114,000. It must not be supposed that the 15,000 new words have been added capriciously, or from a desire to swell the list to the greatest possible number. “Words,” says the editor, “which were the offspring of the individual conceit of a whimsical or lawless writer, which did not conform to the analogies of the language, and which were never accepted or approved by good writers, of their own or a subsequent generation, have not been admitted. On the other hand, new words which have been acknowledged and approved as good have been carefully garnered, whether used by old authors or new. A great number of obsolete or obsolescent words, which were once accepted and freely used, have been recovered by the readings and researches that were directed in part to this end.”
The collection of Synonyms, prepared by Dr. Goodrich, and published in the Appendix of the former edition, have been incorporated in the body of this, for greater facility of reference.
“In the department of Orthography,” the editor informs us, “no change has been made in the principles set forth in the reviled edition of 1847. In a few classes of words the Dictionary recommends and follows the peculiar modes of spelling which Dr. Webster introduced for the sake of carrying out the acknowledged analogies of the language—modes of spelling which, in every instance, had been previously suggested by distinguished English grammarians and writers on orthogography, such as Lowth, Walker, etc., and the propriety of which has been recognized by Smart and other recent English lexicographers. But to remove every reasonable ground of complaint against the Dictionary in regard to this matter, an alternative orthography is now given in almost every case, the old style of spelling being subjoined to the reformed or new. ln two or three instances it has been found that the forms introduced by Dr. Webster, or to which he lent his sanction, were based upon a mistaken etymology; and therefore these forms have been set aside, and the old spelling has been restored.” This edition, moreover, contains “A List of Words Spelled in Two or More Ways,” which will be found very convenient.
The Vocabularies of “Scripture Proper Names,” “Greek and Latin Proper Names,” “Modern Geographical Names,” Common English Christian Names,” etc., have been reëdited, or expressly prepared for this edition by able scholars. One of these Vocabularies is entirely new, viz.: the “Vocabulary of the Names of Noted Fictitious Persons, Places,” etc., and will meet a want long felt. It has been specially commended by Everett, Hawthorne, Holmes, Longfellow, Emerson, Lowell, Whittier, Wendell Phillips and other eminent scholars.
The Pictorial Illustrations are over 3,000 in number, and give much information in regard to the objects to which they relate. Most of them are incorporated in the body of the work, each in connection with the word to which it specially pertains; but these, together with many others, which, from their larger size, or for other reasons, could not so well be given in the body of the work, are grouped together in classes at the end of the volume, under appropriate headings— for example, Anatomy, Architecture, Botany, Heraldry, Ornithology, Quadrupeds, Mechanics, etc.
Prof. Russel of Lancaster, Mass., bears the following testimony to the value of this new edition of Webster:
“The immense and invaluable addition of the original
excellence of this Dictionary, the careful retrenchment of
Whatever errors had been chargeable in former editions,
and the just and liberal course adopted in presenting a
