Ask the Scholar

In this letter to William Lloyd Garrison, Arnold Buffum discusses his attempts to collect money from Liberator suscribers in Philadelphia and sends Garrison a notice to include in the Liberator, inviting subscribers to pay their dues at his store. Buffum says he knows that Garrison "cannot publish your paper unless you can get paid for it" and promises that he "shall not cease the efforts for collecting the amount due here untill [sic] the whole is accomplished." He asks Garrison about sending him the money, along with $15 from Joseph Cassey, and describes his efforts to start an antislavery society in Philadelphia, calling the city "a dull place for Abolition principles." He also proposes collecting funds for the New England Anti-Slavery Society as he lectures in the area around Philadelphia. Buffum then mentions a copy of "Capt[ain Charles] Stuarts reply to Dr. Hodgkins," calling it "a masterly production" and stating that he hopes it is published in the United States. Before ending the letter, Buffum comments on emancipation in the British West Indies saying he perceives they are "rejecting the Apprenticeship scheme and totally abolishing slavery at once and forever. What a comment does this fact furnish on the fears of the apologists of oppression, Robbery, pollution and murder."