re congenial center for their operations
they had to go to Oberlin in the Western Reserve where a larger number
of persons had become interested in the cause of the despised and
rejected of men.

During the years from 1833 to 1836 the situation in Cincinnati grew
worse because of the still larger influx of Negroes driven from the
South by intolerable conditions incident to the reaction against the
race. To solve this problem various schemes were brought forth. Augustus
Wattles tells us that he appeared in Cincinnati about this time and
induced numbers of the Negroes to go to Mercer County, Ohio, where they
took up 30,000 acres of land.[26] Others went to Indiana and purchased
large tracts on the public domain.[27] Such a method, however, seemed
rather slow to the militant proslavery leaders who had learned not only
to treat the Negroes as an evil but to denounce in the same manner the
increasing number of abolitionists by whom it was said the Negroes were
encouraged to immigrate into the State.

The spirit of the proslavery sympathizers was well exhibited in the
upheaval which soon followed. This was the riot of July 30, 1836. It was
an effort to destroy the abolition organ, _The Philanthropist_, edited
by James G. Birney, a Southerner who had brought his slaves from
Huntsville, Alabama, to Kentucky and freed them. The mob formed in the
morning, went to the office of _The Philanthropist_, destroyed what
printed matter they could find, threw the type into the street, and
broke up the press. They then proceeded to the home of the printer, Mr.
Pugh, but finding no questionable matter there, they left it
undisturbed. The homes of James G. Birney, Mr. Donaldson and Dr. Colby
were also threatened. The next homes to be attacked were those of Church
Alley, the Negro quarter, but when two guns were fired upon the
assailants they withdrew. It was reported that one man was shot but this
has never been proved. The mob hesitated some time before attacking
these houses again, several of the rioters declaring that they did not
care to endanger their lives. A second onset was made, but it was
discovered that the Negroes had deserted the quarter. On finding the
houses empty the assailants destroyed their contents.[28]

Yet undaunted by this persistent opposition the Negroes of Cincinnati
achieved so much during the years between 1835 and 1840 that they
deserved to be ranked among the most progressive people of the
world.[29] Their fr