Letter from S.P. Leland, Windsor, Ohio, to William Lloyd Garrison, Sept[ember] 7, 1857

S. P. Leland writes William Lloyd Garrison following receipt of several copies of the Liberator, and asserts that the "people of the North" are quickly becoming prepared to "blow the sparks that are falling from the hearth-stones of the Disunion party and kindle a flame under the altars of this corrupted Union that never can be quenched". Leland declares that, "protected by impious laws", the pro-slavery forces in Kansas are "today recording scenes of unparelled pollution through the influence of this invidious sin". Leland lambasts Congress and President Buchanan for their role in the crisis, and in their handling of the issue of slavery. Leland states that abolitionist fervor is lacking in many respects in Ohio, and beseeches Garrison to send some from the "Old Bay State" to "favor [Ohio] with their labors", citing the success met by Parker Pillsbury while in Ohio the previous year (despite Pillsbury being, per Leland, a rather unaccomplished orator), and by Henry Clarke Wright.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library