Note 65 — Chapter IV · IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY RANKS 1845-1849 (continued 2)

Dr. Lowell’s course in this matter was characteristic of his fine sense of honor. Previous to the ordination of his colleague, Dr. Bartol, 1 March, 1837, he received from the West Church Society a salary of $2000 a year. At a meeting of the proprietors held 22 April, 1849, a letter was read from Dr. Lowell, in which he says: “It was always a favorite object with me, in the event of the settlement of a colleague pastor, to resign the whole of my salary, or at most, to retain only a small portion of it, that you might have less hesitation in calling upon me for the services I might be able to render you.” It was with great reluctance, he added, that he then came to the conclusion it was his duty to accede to the request of the proprietors and retain all the salary he had been accustomed to receive; now he could do so no longer, and he insisted respectfully on an arrangement by which he should resign a quarter of his salary, “with the purpose at no distant day, if Providence permit, of resigning a further sum.” In 1854 Dr. Lowell resigned the whole of his salary, but the Society declined to accept the proposal.