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866  6BEAT  STRUGGLE  BETWEEN

timore,  he  visited  various  parts  of  New  England,  to  extend
the  circulation  of  his  paper,  and  stir  up  the  friends  of  the  en-
slaved.   He  visited  Texas  twice,  and  penetrated  into  Mexico,
in  search  of  some  better  asylum  for  fugitive  and  emancipated
slaves.    Though  failing  to  accomplish  this  object,  he  possessed
himself  of  much  invaluable  information,  which  afterwards  be-
came of  the  highest  importance  to  the  cause  in  which  he  was
engaged,  and  to  the  country  at  large.    It  was  chiefly  to  com-
munications from  Benjamin  Lundy  that  John  Quincy  Adams
was  indebted  for  those  astounding  disclosures  concerning  the
Texas  plot  with  which  he  so  suddenly  electrified  Congress
and  the  nation,  in  1836.    A  more  full  account  of  the  particu-
lars was  afterwards  published  by  Mr.  Lundy  himself  in  a
paper  issued  at  Philadelphia  for  that  purpose.    This  timely
information  put  the  friends  of  liberty  upon  the  track  by  which,
though  failing  to  exclude  Texas  from  the  Union,  they  have
succeeded,  thus  far,  in  arresting  the  quiet  march  of  the  slave
power  to  the  Pacific,  thus  sending  a  thrill  of  alarm  and  rage
through  the  whole  South.      Thus  does  Divine  Providence
raise  up  and  direct  the  voluntary  instruments  of  its  high  de-
signs.   Benjamin  Lundy  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of
Friends ;  he  was  small  in  stature,  of  feeble  health,  afflicted
with  deafness,  less  definite  than  some  abolitionists  in  his  anti-
slavery  ethics  and  measures,  but  of  indomitable  purpose,  per-
severance, faith,  courage,  patience,  self-denial,  endurance,  and
by  dint  of  these,  became  a  pioneer  in  the  cause.    At  one  time
he  traversed  the  free  States,  lecturing,  collecting,  obtaining
subscribers,  writing  for  his  paper,  getting  it  printed,  monthly,
wherever  he  could  conveniently  have  it  printed,  for  once,
stopping  himself  to  read  the  "  proof,"  and  direct  and  mail  his
papers,  then  travelling  on  again  another  month,  and  carrying
in  his  trunk  his  "  direction  book,"  "  column  rules,"  and  type
"heading,"  (with  the  date  of  " Baltimore,")  to  facilitate  the
process.    Such  are  the  labors  of  men  who  commence  moral
revolutions,  to  be  completed  by  others  after  they  have  gone
off  the  stage.
