Letter from J.C.A. Smith, Manchester, [England], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1851 August 6th

Item Information

Title:
Letter from J.C.A. Smith, Manchester, [England], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1851 August 6th
Description:
J.C.A. Smith writes to William Lloyd Garrison about his traveling companion, Henry Box Brown, telling Garrison that since arriving in England and their tour began having some success, "it seems that he is not the same man". Smith details how Brown has mistreated him, taking their money and excluding him from their joint tour, even rewriting a copy of a notice Brown presented to him, to show Garrison how Brown has cut him out. Smith calls Brown "a bad one ... for if he would treat a man in this manner that have given him ade in gaining his liberty besides any thing else". He explains that a reason for Brown's conduct could be that before their trip, Smith wrote the owner of Brown's wife and children about purchasing them and received a reply that they could be bought for $1500. Brown then told people that only his children could be bought, which Smith corrected to include his wife as well. Smith supposes that, "I think that has given so much offence to him and made him try to do me this harm - for he is after getting a wife in this Country - one of the English fair sex - and he did not like my telling about his wife therefore". Smith states that after their English partners made Brown ackowledge him as a partner, Brown "was not doing any good and [the partners] thought it best for us to desolve [the] partnership." Before ending the letter, Smith shares that his "heart thrilled with joy when I heard of you and other eloquent speakers pleading for the rights of mankind" but that Brown told "the friends here that none of the abolitionists in the United States did not give him any thing nor never done any thing for him". In the postscript, Smith says Browns "indulge[s] in such habits as drinking smoking and chewing tobacco and gaiming &c &c" but clarifies "I did not mean that he was a regler drunkard."
Author:
Smith, J. C. A.
Addressee:
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Date:
August 6, 1851
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
Abolitionists--United States--19th century--Correspondence
African American abolitionists--History--19th century
Antislavery movements--England--History--19th century
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Social reformers--United States--History--19th century
Abolitionists--United States--History--19th century
African American abolitionists
Antislavery movements--Great Britain
Antislavery movements--United States
Social reformers--United States
Smith, J. C. A.
Brown, Henry Box, 1815 or 1816-
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Places:
England
Extent:
1 leaf (4 p.) ; 23 x 19 cm.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/2v23x5509
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
Manchester, [England]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
Title devised by cataloger.
Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) manuscript composed in black ink on white paper. In the head- spine corner of the first page, a small checkmark and the number "89" have both been drawn in pencil.
Identifier:
4839001
Call #:
MS A.1.2 v.20, p.88
Barcode:
39999085439121