Elihu Burritt: Crusader for Brotherhood (review)

54Quaker History B. G. Hutton has contributed two important appendices concerning Quaker records in Northern Ireland. The first lists the meeting records preserved at the Friends Meetinghouse at Lisburn, County Antrim. These include all the records of North Ireland monthly meetings now known to have existed. The second appendix gives details of the collection of Quaker material in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. For the countless individuals who have not had nor will not have the opportunity to examine these collections personally, Olive Goodbody has performed an enduring service. Indianapolis, IndianaWillard C. Heiss Elihu Burritt: Crusader for Brother^d. By Peter Tolis. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books. 1968. 309 pages. 110.00. Elihu Burritt, like many reformers who rose to prominence in the first half of the nineteenth century, lacked a first rate education, and forged ahead on the basis of deep religious belief and a sincere desire to reform society. His most important efforts were made in the field of peace, and he spent several years in England developing an international peace movement. He was born at New Britain, Connecticut, in 1810, the eighth child in a family of ten. His father combined repairing shoes with a bit of farming; it was his wife, Elizabeth Hinsdale Burritt, who strongly influenced their children, especially her most famous son, Elihu. She was a woman of deep religious convictions, a dedicated Calvinist who never understood the new liberal theology which gained support in the New England of her day. While Elihu Burritt embraced the new theology, he never wavered in his devotion to his mother, and he never married. When his father died in 1827, Elihu apprenticed himself to a blacksmith and spent four years learning this trade. He did not begin immediately to use his new skill, but instead spent several years studying and trying various other occupations . After failing in business in the Panic of 1837, he determined to study languages. While he had hoped to pursue this goal in Europe, he ended up at Worcester, Massachusetts, where he worked as a blacksmith during the day and studied languages with the aid of books in the American Antiquarian Society. In less than two years he taught himself at least something about some fifty different languages, and earned for himself the nickname of "learned blacksmith." The American urge for self-improvement had created a great demand for lecturers on the lyceum circuit, and Elihu Burritt, the ordinary workman, the blacksmith who knew fifty languages, became a popular figure in this program. At the same time he started to interest himself in various reforms, beginning with visiting prisoners, moving on to temperance, and then into the antislavery effort. Burritt chose the political wing of the antislavery movement, the group which organized the Liberty Party, rather than the more radical element. He edited a paper called the Christian Citizen to advance his various reforms, and before long peace principles joined his other causes. Book Reviews55 Burritt was active in the wing of the American Peace Society which advocated a radical pacifism and denied the validity of force, even in a defensive war. He was also a leader in the effort to reach out and cooperate with peace movements in other nations. Thus when war between Britain and the United States threatened in 1846 over the Oregon question, and English Quakers such as Joseph Crosfield and Joseph Sturge initiated efforts to maintain friendly and peaceful relations, it was natural for them to turn to Burritt for cooperation. When Burritt arrived in England in 1846 he was warmly welcomed by Quakers and other reformers. He soon organized the League of Universal Brotherhood, a new internationally minded peace group, and before long began to plan an international peace congress. The author has fully told the story of Burritt and his co-laborers in these efforts. He discusses the jealousy between the League and the London Peace Society, especially after the Brussels Convention of 1848. He also describes the differences between those who advocated a "Congress of Nations" and the supporters of international arbitration. While still in England, Burritt began to work for the "free produce" movement , an effort to boycott all products of slave labor...