Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society Printed circular report, February 3, 1856

CIRCULAR.
FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ROCHESTER LADIES' ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

TREASURER'S REPORT --- RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.

{Note: the treasurer's report is in a two-column format; the transcription presents them in a one-column format.}

{begin column one}

By balance for last Annual Report, $42,19

" Receipts for Lectures, 452,46

" " " Donations, 159,16

" " " Membership, 20,00

" Foreign goods sold at Fair, 365,28

" American goods and Refreshments sold, 173,10

$1,212,19

{begin column two}

To amount paid for Lecturers and charges, $463,95

" " " " Fugitives, 130,42

" " " " Printing, 28,37

" " " " Fair Expenses, 120,18

" Working materials, &c., 61,62

" Donations to F. Douglass' Paper, 320,00

$1,124,54

Balance in the Treasury, $67,65

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

During the past year, the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and the friends of the cause generally, have had
much occasion to congratulate each other upon the cheerful aspect of the signs of the times, which cannot but be regarded
by every intelligent and unprejudiced observer, as indications of the partial renovation of a corrupt pro-Slavery public
sentiment, and as the certain precusers of the approaching doom of Slavery, and the emancipation of our afflicted bro
thers and sisters.

The salutary effects of the Anti-Slavery agitation are, everywhere, apparent. Though the measurless iniquity of
Slavery has been developed in a very bold and caring manner - though our heart-broken sisters have seemingly cried
for help in vain - in a word, though Slavery still lives and breathes, and has its being, and stalks up and down the land
in triumph - yet the image of despair is stamped so plainly upon its countenance, that a little child may run and read.
Every victory achieved has been succeeded by a re-action in favor of Liberty.

So long as the Northern mind was almost completely overshadowed by the benighted influences of Slavery, so that
the true light was not allowed to shine, the minions of Despotism were comparatively secure in the enjoyment of their
ill-gotten plunder. But the light has, at length, dispelled the darkness. The masses behold the iniquity of Slavery as
they have never witnessed it before. The slave power has overreached itself. God hath made the wrath of man to
praise him. We have all things to hope for, and nothing to fear. The Abolitionists, once despised, have, at length,
become a power in the land. They have firmly adhered to the principles which lie at the foundation of the Anti-Slave
ry movement, through evil as well as good report; they have persistently maintained their position, continually agita
ting the question of the slave's redemption, until his forlorn condition has arrested all Chistendom; and it can be said,
with propriety, that the question of American Slavery has driven every other into comparative insignificance.

One very gratifying evidence of Anti-Slavery progress, is the election of Hon. N. P. BANKS, of Massachusetts, as Speak
er in our National Legislature. The result of the long and arduous struggle, which terminated in his election, has tended, on the
one hand, to evince the potency of united effort and unyielding perseverance - inspired the friends of universal Free
dom with renewed confidence in their ability to defeat the enemy, and incited them to renewed efforts for its speedy
overthrow. The North has obtained a vantage ground over the enemy, never to be relinquished. It should now as
sume a more manly position - plant its feet upon the Constitution, (a Constitution ordained to establish justice and lib
erty unto all the people,) knowing no law for Slavery, no Constitution for the enslavement of our bleeding brethren and
sisters. Our enemies, by their virulent opposition to the Anti-Slavery movement, and their glaring outrages upon those
who have evinced the slightest determination to resist the encroachment of the despot, have awakened the intense indigna
tion of the hitherto careless and unconcerned - opened the eyes of the blind - unlocked the ears of the deaf, and stamped
the so-called institution of Slavery with an infamy that shall never die. The atrocious attempts to stifle free discussion
in Kansas, by the revolver and bowie-knofe - the forcible ejection of unoffending citizens at the point of the bayonet -
the destruction of the ballot-box, and other outrages, too numerous to mention, but which have become as familiar as
household words - all, all have tended to advance rather than retard our heaven-born movement.

Our brethren and sisters fleeing from the house of bondage, guided by the North
star, and coming in our midst, to tell
us of their sufferings and woes, have, indeed, intensified our hatred of the abominable enactment which forbids us, under
penalty of heavy fine and imprisonment, from ministering to their dire necessities. O, how our eyes were filled with weep
ing, and how our hearts o'erflowed with sympathy, when the circumstances connected with the recent appalling tragedy in Cin
cinnati came under our notice! A poor slave mother, driven to the dreadful extremity of murdering her own child, rather
than that it should again be made a slave! Noble woman! PATRICK HENRY could exclaim, "Give me Liberty, or give