Letter

Your letter of Dec. 14, containing an
offer of the place of an agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society, was duly
received. To the Executive Committee, in whose name you act, I return my acknow
ledgments for this appointment, which, upon due consideration, I do not deem it
advisable to accept. Though you will find others better qualified to undertake
the duties belonging to the office of an agent, you have done me justice in
believing me to be among the number of those who feel a deep interest ‸ⁱⁿ a cause
which contains the last hope of our enslaved countrymen, and which rests
upon the eternal principles of truth, justice & humanity. From the support of
that cause I shall not be deterred by a fear of personal conse
quences; but I believe I can serve it best where I am, and
that by the acceptance of the trust which is now tendered to me I should
not strengthen myself against the opposition with which we have here
to contend.

That the Society is enabled to enlarge its operations, in
the manner indicated by your letter is a just cause‸^ground for congratulations.
The blood of martyrs is truly the seed of reformations. The harvest will
not in this instance be one of men in arms, but of concentrated & invincible
opinions for the recovery of lost rights, and the extermination of Republican
Slavery.