Transcriber's Note
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To which is appended a fac simile Reprint of Dr. George Buchanan's
Oration on the Moral and Political Evil of Slavery, delivered
at a public meeting of the Maryland Society for Promoting
the Abolition of Slavery, Baltimore, July 4, 1791
I purpose this evening to call the attention of the Club to the stateof anti-slavery opinions in this country just prior to the year 1800.In this examination I shall make use of a very rare pamphlet in thelibrary of General Washington, which seems to have escaped the noticeof writers on this subject; and shall preface my remarks on the maintopic of discussion with a brief description of the Washingtoncollection.
In the library of the Boston Athenæum, the visitor sees, as he enters,a somewhat elaborately-constructed book-case, with glass front, filledwith old books. This is the library of George Washington, which cameinto possession of the Athenæum in 1849. It was purchased that yearfrom the heirs of Judge Bushrod Washington—the favorite nephew towhom the General left all his books and manuscripts—by Mr. HenryStevens, of London, with the intention of placing it in the BritishMuseum. Before the books were shipped, they were bought by Mr. GeorgeLivermore and a few other literary and public-spirited gentlemen ofBoston, and presented to the Athenæum. Mr. Livermore, as discretionaryexecutor of the estate of Thomas Dowse, the "literary[Pg 4]leather-dresser" of Cambridge, added to the gift one thousand dollars,for the purpose of printing a description and catalogue of thecollection, which has not yet been done.
The collection numbers about twelve hundred titles, of which fourhundred and fifty are bound volumes, and seven hundred and fifty arepamphlets and unbound serials. Some books of the original library ofGeneral Washington still remain at Mt. Vernon, and are, or were a fewyears since, shown to visitors, with other curiosities.
Separated from association with their former illustrious owner, thebound volumes, which are mostly English books, present but fewattractions. Among them are a few treatises on the art of war andmilitary tactics, which evidently were never much read. These wereimported after his unfortunate expedition with Braddock's army, andbefore the revolutionary war. There are books on horse and cattlediseases; on domestic medicine; on farming, and on religioustopics—such works as we might expect to find on the shelves of aintelligent Virginia planter. It is evident that their owner was nostudent or specialist. Many of the books were sent to him as presents,with complimentary inscriptions by the donors. The bindings are all intheir original condition, and generally of the most commondescription. The few exceptions were presentation copies. Col. David[Pg 5]Humphreys, Washington's