H. B. Stanton to William Tyler

Anti Slavery Office,
New York, July 1st 1839.
My dear Sir:
In the same mail with this, we send
you an "Emancipation lecture," containing an address of the
Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and
an appeal from the Finance Committee, for funds to sustain
our operations. All that is said in these documents as to the
wants of the Society in money matters true -- and even more
would be equally true. Three facts are quite evident:
(1) This cause cannot go forward without money.
(2) It now languishes for lack of it.
(3) The money to sustain it is now in the hands of its friends,
and will be contributed if effort is made to procure it.
How shall it be raised? It cannot be done by our Agents. A
resolution was passed at the last annual meeting of the society,
strongly advising the Executive Committee not to send its
Agents into any State where a State Society existed, without,
the assent of such Society. It is the intention of the Committee,
for the sake of peace, to abide by this advice. This will restrict
us from sending our Agents into some portions of the field.
Nor, indeed, can we obtain a sufficient number of the right sort
of men to do this work. We have tried to get them again and
again; but find it impossible. And, if the whole field were
open, and we had scores of Agents, it would be bad economy
to employ them in this work. Their great design is to
lecture on the general principles of the cause and make
converts, constantly pushing on to new conquests, and striving
to plant the standard in new fields -- where, of course, little
money can be had. Societies and individuals, then, must do
this work, or it will go undone. It strikes me that the officers
of the county societies, where there are such, and where there are
not leading friends in the counties, should assume the
responsibility of having every abolitionist, in their county,
visited and pressed to contribute to our treasury. Is not this
the best and in fact the only plan that promises success.
What better employment for such men, than to supply this

Committee with the means of abolitionizing new sections
making new converts in old fields; and carrying a knowledge
of our righteous and salutary principles to the South?
We will not insult you by asking if you love the slave.
But we will assure you, with all the emphasis we can command,
that his bleeding cause cannot go forward without money:
that it is now halting for lack of it, that money is in the
pockets of its friends, and can be had for the asking, that
this Committee are unable to hire men to ask for it, and that,
unless the officers of the County Societies, or leading men and
women in various sections of the country, will put their
hands to this work, our cause will come to a dishonorable
and disastrous stand. Upon you, then, do we, in the name
of enslaved millions, place the solemn responsibility of
seeing this branch of the great movement immediately
and thoroughly attended to in your county. We are persuaded
you will not shrink from it. This is our last resource. Shall
it fail?
Nor is this branch of effort accompanied by
so many difficulties as many suppose. Experience has
taught us that money is pretty easily got for the poor slave,
if we can but get where it is. But our difficulty is in getting
men to go after it. This you can do, being on the spot. We
trust you will set a plan on foot, without delay, to raise
all the money your County can contribute, and forward
it to us. I would advise that you address a letter to each
town society, urging them to commence a subscription, and
also send around an Agent, who shall make it his
special business to collect funds. This course has been
pursued with good success, in many counties. All monies
forwarded to us will be duly acknowledged in the Emancipator,
and shall be sacredly and economically devoted
to the promotions of the cause.
The Committee have great faith that
our friends will come up to work nobly this year. We are

appointing several new Agents -- strong men and true -- nor do
we lack anything but the means to fill the field with sound
lecturers, who, by the aid of Divine Providence, will push the cause
onward with unprecedented speed.
We do not mean to come into collision with
the State Societies, but to move on harmoniously with them. And, we
are fully of the opinion, that the friends of the cause may put the
$100,000 spoken of in the Address, into our hands, to be expended on
a national scale, while the State Societies may have an abundant
supply for State operations. Abolitionists must be liberal and all will
go well.
Words cannot express the anxiety we feel that you should
commence this work without delay, and prosecute it, as you would wish
the slave to do were you compelled to change places with him. If we
remember the slave as bound with him, we shall not be idlers by the way.
The peculiarity of our situation, the exhausted state of our own treasury, and
the woes and tears of our enslaved brothers, are our only apology for the
earnestness of this appeal. I especially request that you will give
me an early reply to this letter. Please direct to me at New York.
This matter should be brought up and acted on at all the
meetings of your town and county societies. We fear it is too often neglected.
Would it not be well to issue an address on this subject to
the abolitionists of your rejion, through the columns of some local
paper? However, you will know what course is best to pursue, to furnish
the Committee with the sinews of war. Excuse these hints.
In behalf of the Executive Committees,
Yours respectfully,
H. B. Stanton , Cor. Sec.
PS. You saw J. W. Benedict's plan for
$100,000 by 1000 subscriptions of $100 each.
Will you not take some of this good stock in your town?
Several stockholders already.

[William Tyler],
[Secretary Anti Slavery Society]
Phenixville,
Pa.