to secure the applause of man, or even to regain any good will of man which I may have lost, by actions which I now wholly disapprove. I trust I have learned higher principles of actions; at least, I know I must learn them, or be in fearful circumstances in that day when " every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit must be hewn down and cast into the fire."

The acknowledgement which I now make, I expect to approve when I appear before God with my final account; and this is reason enough to induce me to make it. I believe it is according to the will of God, and that will I fully approve.

You are at liberty, sir, to do with it what you please. If God can be honored, and good done thereby, I would like that the confession I make be as public as the sin I committed. I believe that I should do what I now have done, if I knew I should be despised for it by the whole world. There is one by me who searches my heart, and there is a judgment seat before me, where I must stand. There is, also, a despised, cast out and crucified Saviour, who was none other than "God manifest in the flesh," whom I wish to please and honor. If you can make any use of this communication, that you think will be an honor to HIM, or a service to the cause of truth, dispose of it at your pleasure.

The Lord strengthen you to do His will.

CHARLES FITCH.

It is not with any spirit of personal exultation that this magnanimous, this noble, this christian confession is incorporated into this Report, but solely to help repair the mischief which this erring but repentant brother has done in time past, and to vindicate the cause of those early and tried friends of the slave, who were falsely accused in the "Clerical Appeal." To publish it is an act of simple justice to all parties. Full liberty is given by the author to make any use of it that may be thought "an honor to God, or a service to the cause of truth;" and this furnishes strong proof of his sincerity. As there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance; so there will be more gladness diffused through the anti-slavery ranks by the return of our wandering brother, than by a large accession of new converts. The manner in which Mr. Fitch has humbled himself, must greatly exalt him in the eyes of all good men, and restore him to full communion with all genuine abolitionists. Let him receive the right hand of fellowship, as of old. Let the remembrance of his abolition misconduct be obliterated, and no evil thought be treasured up against him. Let him be honored more than he has been censured. Let thanks be given to God, that sight has been restored to the blind, and the

lost found. There is no attempt at sinful palliation: he condemns himself in strong terms, such as befit genuine repentance, and finds occasion "for shame, and self-loathing, and deep humiliation before God and man;" and now perceives in the "Clerical Appeal" movement, "nothing better than a selfish and wicked desire to gain thereby the good opinion of such men as he supposed would be pleased by that movement." Having abased himself, he shall be exalted. May he continue faithful unto the end, that he may at last receive a crown of life!

What a blaze of light is shed by this letter upon the conduct of the other signers of the "Clerical Appeal"!-True, it does not necessarily follow, that they were actuated by the same improper motives as those which influenced Mr. Fitch: but it does not come within the scope of christian charity to believe that they were a whit more honest. The "Appeal" gives prima facie evidence, that its authors had ceased to "remember those in bonds as bound with them"; that their spirit was sectarian, and not Christ-like; that they thought more about the reputation of pro-slavery clergymen, than about the unutterable wrongs of the perishing bondman; that they were disposed to lower the standard of eternal truth, to accommodate those who refused to be measured by it; that they were not sincere in their pretences; and that they indulged feelings toward individual abolitionists, "which a holy God never can approve." If their own consciences condemn them not, then they may feel justified in the schismatical course they pursued. But let them imitate the example of the repentant Fitch, and look over that portion of their past life, and make solemn enquiries what they would think of past feelings and actions, in reference particularly to the anti-slavery cause, if they "were to behold Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven, coming to judge the world, and to establish his reign of holiness, and righteousness, and blessedness, over the pure in heart." Let them not deceive themselves, through that fear of man which brings a snare. Let them not be afraid to "witness a good confession." It is in their power, by a frank acknowledgement of their error, to do immense service to the anti-slavery cause, to rescue their

names from ignorance, to stimulate afresh the friends of liberty' in their warfare against the fões of God and man, and to hasten that great day of jubilee, when liberty shall be proclaimed throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.

The next and latest attempt to overthrow this Society, and to abridge the anti-slavery platform, has been made during the past year. In this instance, as in that of the Clerical Appeal, the schismatics are professed abolitionists; but, on the score of misrepresentation, and apparent hostility of purpose, they far outstrip the clerical appellants and their abettors. They have spared no pains to make this Society detestable in the eyes of the community -to cover its Board of Managers with disgrace -to stir up and take advantage of the spirit of sectarianism, in order to forward their disorganizing measures- to cripple the circulation of the Liberator, and malign the character of its editor-to impose themselves upon community as the only sound and consistent abolitionists and to consummate what has been so long desired by the foes of equal rights, namely, the total annihilation of the Society and the paper, which, under God, have shaken the land to its centre on the subject of slavery. In short, their career has been marked by inconsistency, by treachery, by duplicity. In their hatred of a particular individual, a particular periodical, and a particular society, they have sacrificed their moral integrity, sundered the ties of christian fellowship, forgotten the claims of bleeding humanity, tarnished their reputation as abolitionists. Never before has the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society had to contend with such fierce opponents. It has learnt, by bitter experience, that it is the greatest of all trials to be "in perils among false brethren." Considering what weapons they have used, what artifices resorted to, what calumnies circulated, their success has been astonishingly small. Nobly has the State Society been sustained by its numerous auxiliaries. The receipts into its treasury, since the last annual meeting, prove that it still retains the confidence and receives the aid of the great body of abolitionists in the Commonwealth. In the sequel, it will doubtless appear that this new schism has been overruled for good to our holy enterprise.

The first public announcement of a scheme in embryo to divide the abolitionists of this State, was made in the Liberator of January 11, 1839-a few days prior to the annual meetingin the following words:

"With pain we aver it, there is a deep scheme laid by individuals, at present somewhat conspicuous as zealous and active abolitionists, to put the control of the anti-slavery movements in this Commonwealth into other hands."

This scheme the Liberator attributed to a clerical origin, asserting that the prominent schismatics were clergymen, one of whom (Rev. Charles T. Torrey) was a participant in the Clerical Appeal conspiracy, though not one of the signers of the Appeal. It further declared, that

"The next object is, to effect the establishment of a new weekly antislavery journal, to be the organ of the State Society, in order, if not avowedly, yet designedly, to subvert the Liberator, and thus relieve the abolition cause of the odium of countenancing such a paper.".:

In a subsequent number it was affirmed, that

"The proposition for a new paper is to be presented under the guise of political necessity of the liveliest interest in the success of antislavery principles and measures."

These allegations excited much surprise, and immediately drew out rejoinders from three clergymen -Messrs. Torrey, St. Clair, and Phelps. Mr, Torrey denied that any change in the management of the anti-slavery cause was contemplated; but acknowledged that he had had a very extensive correspondence, in order to get up a new paper adding, "The design of injuring the Liberator, I have seldom taken the trouble to disclaim, because no man has had the meanness to charge me with it."

Mr. St. Clair replied, "I aver, before heaven and earth, that I know nothing of any such scheme, and that, so far as I am concerned, the charge is just as false as it is cruel and wicked." "I know and aver, that this statement of yours is totally false." As to the establishment of a new paper, he declared "It has been recommended to me, during the past year, by a great number of laymen, of all sects and parties, in almost every town I

have visited in Massachusetts.

Nor did I ever assent to it, till
Mr. Phelps branded the

I saw the demand was great." charges in the Liberator as "rumors and calumnies;"but avowed that the project for a new paper received his "full approbation"-adding that, in devising such a paper, "he had no wish nor design to injure the Liberator: that was no object with him in the thing."

Notwithstanding these disclaimers, what was predicted by the Liberator has since proved to be true. The tocsin of alarm was not sounded in vain-the trumpet gave not an uncertain sound.

To carry their points, extraordinary pains were taken by the leading schismatics to pack the last annual meeting with such persons as they supposed would be friendly to their schemes. Their discomfiture was most signal. Notwithstanding their positive declarations, that another anti-slavery paper was imperatively needed in the Commonwealth—that its establishment had been recommended by a great number of laymen, of all sects and parties," in various parts of the State-and that the proposition did not originate in any hostility to the Liberatora resolution which they submitted to the meeting, in favor of such a periodical, was rejected by an almost unanimous vote; and upon every test question, they were shown to be a very insignificant minority. Foiled in their purposes, they soon after started a periodical, called the Massachusetts Abolitionist, and procured the services of Elizur Wright, Jr. as editor. In his introductory address, Mr. Wright said—"It has been said that this paper originated in envy and ill-will towards Mr. Garrison. However that may be, it will be the endeavor of the present editor to live down the charge." The Abolitionist has now been printed nearly a year: but its editor, instead of living down the charge as he promised, has in multiplied instances demonstrated its correctness, to the letter. In reply to the charge, that the new paper was "conceived in a spirit of rivalry to the Liberator, and is nursed at the breast of sectarianism," the plea of not guilty was made; yet, in the very same number, a panegyrical notice of the Abolitionist is copied