The North Star (Rochester)/1848/01/14/Full text
THE NORTH STAR.
| FREDERICK DOUGLASS, M. R. DELANY, |
Editors. | RIGHT IS OF NO SEX—TRUTH IS OF NO COLOR—GOD IS THE FATHER OF US ALL, AND ALL WE ARE BRETHREN. | WILLIAM C. NELL, Publisher. JOHN DICK, Printer. |
| VOL I. NO. III. | ROCHESTER, N. Y., FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1848. | WHOLE NO. III. |
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The object of the North Star will be to attack Slavery in all its forms and aspects; advocate Universal Emancipation; exalt the standard of Public Morality; promote the moral and intellectual improvement or the Colored People; and hasten the day of FREEDOM to the Three Millions of our Enslaved Fellow Countrymen.
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THE NORTH STAR.
ROCHESTER, JANUARY 14, 1848.
POLITICAL.
The following will show to the people of the old world how the peoples petitions are treated in the first nation on the globe. We are glad that the subject is now fully up again. Such a course as that adopted by the Senate will do more to make abolitionists than many lecturers; for the latter can only be heard by the few, while the former speaks to the whole nation, in tones of thunder, telling them that their liberties are gone.
From the Emancipator.
MR. HALE IN THE SENATE.
We are able to give the following interesting particulars in regard to the presentation (on the 22d) of the memorial of the yearly meeting of anti-slavery friends in Indiana. Here follows the petition:
"To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled: We, your petitioners, believing all carnal war to be anti-Christian, and the present war with Mexico to be one of pre-eminent injustice, wickedness and barbarity, respectfully but earnestly request you to use all the means in your power to put an immediate termination to the bloody conflict. And, farther, we would solicit the exercise of the powers of the government invested in your hands, to put an immediate termination to slavery with all its horrid consequences, so far as those powers extend.
| "Signed on behalf of the meeting. | |
| Walter Edgerton, Rebecca Edgerton, |
Clerks." |
On presenting this petition, Mr. Hale said:
I suppose, Mr. President, as this petition prays for the exertion of all the powers of government, so far as they extend, in relation to this subject, it includes within its provision, slavery within the District of Columbia; and I am informed that the practice has obtained in the Senate, when petitions of this character are presented, to raise the question of reception, and that such a motion is laid on the table, and there the matter drops. As this course does not accord with my own conviction of duty, I must urge a different disposition of this petition; and I hope that if exception be taken, it will be taken without this side-blow of a motion to lay on the table.
With this view, if the question of reception be raised, I ask that it may be taken by yeas and nays.
The presiding officer.—Those in favor of taking the question by yeas and nays will rise.
Mr. Hale.—Was the motion made to lay the motion upon the table?
The presiding officer.—The question is to be put as a matter of course.
Mr. Hale.—I was not aware of the existence of such a rule; but that being the case, I would like to say a single word on the main question, as the motion to lay on the table is not debateable.
Mr. Berrien.—I trust that the established usage of the Senate will not be departed from on this occasion. When a petition of this sort is presented, the question of reception it raised by a motion to lay a petition on the table. I raise that question; I move to lay the motion upon the table.
Mr. Hale.—Upon that question I ask the yeas and nays.
Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, inquired whether it would be in order to move a postponement of the question of reception till to-morrow?
The presiding officer.—The question to lay on the table has precedence.
Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, then said that his only object was that the Senate might be full before the question was taken.
Mr. Calhoun.—What is the question?
The presiding officer.—It is to lay the motion to receive the petition on the table.
Mr. Calhoun.—What is the subject matter of the petition?
The presiding officer.—The abolition of slavery in the district of Columbia.
Mr. Hale.—If it be in order, I will state the subject matter of the petition. The petition comes from the yearly meeting of Friends at Newport, Wayne county, Indiana, praying the termination of the war in Mexico; and also praying that all the powers vested in Congress upon the subject, shall be exerted for the termination of slavery.
Mr. Butler.—That does not say anything about slavery in the District of Columbia.
Mr. Hale.—I remarked that that was included in the petition.
The question was then taken on the call for the yeas and nays. A sufficient number of members rising, the yeas and nays were ordered and were taken as follows:
Yeas—Messrs. Allen, Ashley, Atchison, Atherton, Badger, Bell, Berrien, Bradbury, Breese, Bright, Butler, Calhoun, Cass, Davis, (of Mississippi,) Dickinson, Dix, Downs, Fairfield, Felch, Foote, Hunter, Johnson,(of Maryland,) Johnson, (of Louisiana,) Manguin, Masson, Niles, Rusk, Sevier, Spruance, Sturgeon, Turney, Westcott, Yulee.—33.
Nays—Messrs. Baldwin, Clarke, Corwin, Greene, Hale, Miller, Phelps, Underwood, Upham.—9.
So the motion to receive the petition was laid upon the table.
Mr. Hale presented the memorial of David T. Burr and sixty-nine others, citizens of Pennsylvania, praying for such an alteration of the constitution and laws as shall abolish slavery throughout the Union.
Mr. Hale said:
I do not understand that there is a standing rule or order of the Senate that raises the question whether this petition shall be received, or the motion to receive it laid on the table. I ask whether the motion to receive the petition is debateable? Am I correct, sir, in supposing it is debateable?
Presiding officer.—It is debateable.
Mr. Hale.—So understanding it, sir, I wish to say a single word in vindication of the course which I deem it my duty to take on this occasion. It is with no desire to produce angry feelings, or excited discussion, but it is in the discharge of my duty, under deep and earnest convictions of my understanding, that I attempt to discharge that duty.
What is the refusal of the Senate to receive these petitoins? It is saying that there are some subjects on which the people shall not approach this tribunal.
In this day, speculation is adventurous. We venture to inquire into all the secrets of the material and the spiritual world. The researches of geological science have penetrated the bowels of the earth, and have there found the materials by which it is essayed to prove that
"He who made the world, and its age reveal'd
To Moses, was mistaken."
Nay, inquiry goes with adventurous flight to the very throne of Eternity, and undertakes to scan the laws by which He who sits thereon governs His own actions and the world he has created. And, sir, if speculation is thus adventurous, have we, in the United States of America, an institution which exalts itself above God; defying examination or inquiry, or petition? Most emphatically, sir, do I conceive that at the present day the people of the United States have a peculiar right to come and ask of this body a respectful hearing of their petitions, and a respectful hearing on this very subject. Sir, it is no mere abstraction. It is an element of political power in the formation of our constitution; it is an element on which the constitution of the other House is regulated; and it is an element in the political discussion and action of the present day, which is involving the nation in a foreign and aggressive war at an expense of forty or fifty millions of dollars annually.—And if the people of the United States are to be thus taxed for war, growing immediately and directly out of an institution of this character, are they to be told that they shall not come and respectfully present their petitions upon this subject?
I have thus discharged my duty to those who sent me here, without any expectation of influencing the action of this body, without any desire to excite angry feeling or discussion. I ask that the petition may be received.
Mr. Berrien.—The practice which has been adopted by the Senate has been the result of calm and deliberate consideration. It has protected us from those exciting discussions which, in another branch of the national legislature, have too often occurred. I do not apprehend that anything which has fallen from the honorable Senator from New Hampshire, who presents this petition, is calculated to change this well settled conviction of the Senate on this subject. I therefore, sir, the question of reception being before the Senate, move to lay that question upon the table.
The motion to receive the petition was then laid upon the table.
From the New York Herald.
SPEECH OF JOHN C. CALHOUN,
ON THE MEXICAN WAR.
At twenty minutes to one o'clock, Mr. Calhoun's resolutions were taken up, on motion of Mr. Sevier.
Mr. Calhoun rose and said—In offering these resolutions, Senators, to your consideration, I have been governed by the same reasons which induced me to oppose the war—from the same considerations which have ever since guided me. In alluding to my opposition to the war, I do not intend to advert to the reasons which governed me on that occasion, further than is necessary to explain my object on the present. I opposed the war then, not only because I considered it unnecessary, and easily to be averted—not only because the President, without authority, ordered the United States troops to enter a disputed territory, at that time occupied by the Mexicans—not only because the declaration of Congress was unfounded in truth—but from higher considerations of policy: because I foresaw that it must lead to great and serious evils to the country, and greatly endanger its free institutions. The war was declared, and recognised as such, by the government, when it was too late to avert it. I then felt it to be my duty to shape my course so as to prevent, as far as possible, the danger which was threatening our free institutions. Such was my object in proposing the defensive line, at the last session—such is my object in now offering these resolutions; but I shall express my opinion at all times, boldly and independently, such as becomes a Senator who has nothing to ask or gain, and whose only object is to do what is good for his country. When I proposed, in the Senate of the United States, at the last session, a different line of policy, we had a large portion of country in our possession; we stood in a better position than at any other time since, to make it; for I hold it to be a fair principle, that we may receive indemnity, in the shape of unoccupied territory, from woods, but not from the cultivated homes of Mexicans. In offering, at the last session, peace resolutions, I did it because I thought it would be a great saving in men and money; but above all, because I saw it would save us from being involved to the extent we now are. The President took a different view; he recommended a vigorous prosecution of the war to Congress, to "conquer a peace;" that is, to compel the Mexicans to make us indemnity, and also to pay us the expenses of the war. I opposed it, because I thought there was great hazard if the war was continued. Congress thought differently; it voted men and money. At Buena Vista we were victorious; Vera Cruz fell; Cerro Gordo was conquered—brilliant victories, that do great honor to our army; and finally, the gates of the city of Mexico fell prostrate to our conquering arms.—Well, sir, have the avowed objects of the war been effected? Have we conquered a peace? Have we succeeded in effecting a treaty? Are we offered indemnity? No, sir, not a single object avowed by the President, has been accomplished. No, Mr. President, the object is farther off than ever. Now, sir, I ask what has caused the complete discomfiture of our measure?
We cannot charge the failure upon our troops. It is not charged to this; but to the fact, that the plan of the campaign was laid in error and founded on a mistake. We aimed at indemnity. If we wanted it, we should have enforced it when we had the power in our hands. We, however, endeavored to arrive at it by a treaty, which, had the Mexicans refused to sign, would have completely upset the arrangement.—They did refuse, and not withstanding all our brilliant victories, the war is still upon our hands. After an outlay of $40,000,000 we are worse off than ever. I am not looking at the conquest—I throw that aside. We have lost 7000 or 8000 men besides, and all this for nothing at all. But, Mr. President, it is said that a defensive line would have been as costly as the prosecution of the war. The President and the Secretary of War have said it; but I must say, to my mind, it is utterly impossible. The line which I proposed would have been covered with hostile Indians, and would have required only a single regiment and a ship of war to guard its coast. For seven years, Texas remained unconquered by Mexico, and that too, when the Mexican resources and power were greater and more powerful than they are now; and can any man believe it would cost us more to defend that line, than to carry on the present war? We now come, Mr. President, to the consideration of another campaign. Sir, the same measures are proposed as were at the last session. We are told it is not for conquest; that is explicitly disavowed. It is not an order to blot out the nationality of Mexico, for the President avows distinctly he wishes to retain its nationality. Now, sir, we come to the practical question:—Shall we carry on the war? I have enquired carefully into the matter, and I must say there are many reasons now existing against it, stronger than at the last session. A bill has been proposed authorising the President to raise an additional force of not less than twenty-five thousand men, making in all, not less than seventy thousand troops for the next campaign, and at an expense of fully $60,000,000. Now, what is the condition of the money market at present? Last year in consequence of the unfortunate famine in Europe, we have a large balance of trade in our favor and money plentiful. We are now encumbered with a large drain both ways. We have to send large sums, both to England and Mexico. If drafts are sent here they are cashed, and in the present state of the market the money goes to England. I see treasury notes quoted below par and stocks still lower. The end will be that the treasury notes will not go into the sub-treasury, and specie be given out—thus draining both. The end will be a great commercial crisis and the failures of our banks. There is danger now of all this, which did not exist at the beginning of the last session. Men you may get, but money you cannot. I have conversed with a gentleman well versed in commercial matters, and he has given it as his opinion, that treasury notes—and they are nothing more or less than loans, which must he repaid—would not bring more than 90 dollars, for every 100 dollars; which is rather more, I think, than 7 per cent. But, sir, these are not the only objections, formidable as they are against the war. I do not see the slightest chance of obtaining any thing by it, if we should be successful in our arms, which I don't believe; but if we should, the avowed objects would be defeated. But, sir, I take the other side. The more victories we gain, the greater will be our difficulty in arriving at a peace, as avowed. What is to be the effect it we proceed to repress all resistance in Mexico? We overthrow her civil government, and leave her without any power. Mr. President, if that is done, how are you to obtain a peace? One power can make war—it requires two to make peace. If you destroy the government of Mexico, where is your second party to a peace? You are defeated by your own success. But what do you accomplish by the very object you disown? The free republic you wish to see will be gone—blotted out—a mere mass of what she was, and her sovereignty, for the time, conveyed to her conquerors. The President has very much the same conviction of what is the vigorous prosecution of the war, as I have. He says, that the people of Mexico are divided into factions, governed by military rulers, and the only way to arrive at what we desire, is to put them all down.
Well, sir, if we are to build up a republican form of government, from those citizens who are well disposed towards us, and who are desirous of a peace, Mr. President, I confess I am at a loss to understand how an independent republic can grow up under the protection and auspices of its conqueror. I can well see how an aristocratic or despotic government could be thus formed; but how a free government can, I cannot see. I had always understood such a government must spring from the hearts of the people; but, sir, I see these notions are antiquated, and we can now make free republics. The people of Mexico do not wish it. The great body of the intelligence and wealth is concentrated in the clergy, and they are disinclined to it. The other large body, the owners of the haciendas, in other words, the planters, might, perhaps, favor it; but they are scattered without the means of forming a firm government, and if put up, would tumble down in a day, the moment our troops should be withdrawn. The other course, then, would be to support and foster the existing government. But it is said that would be useless, and it would fall the moment our troops were withdrawn. Mr. President, I protest against building up any power in Mexico, for we shall thereby be obliged to support it again and again, until at last we would be compelled to take it ourselves. The conquering of Hindostan, which we have so long deprecated, come on in this very way. There was no intention at first to conquer it. That came on by degrees, till at last it appeared a matter of course. So it would be with Mexico, if that government should agree to make a treaty on such terms as we ask. The President himself agrees we shall take the very course I have forshadowed. He says, in so many words, if measures fail, we must enforce terms which the honor of the country demands. Is not this an acknowledgment, that if the factional government is not built up, we must conquer and occupy the country, thus enforcing terms, not upon the government, but upon the people. Well, the President is right. This will be the result. Every argument against taking a defensive line, will have a double force when we have spent sixty millions of dollars more, and occupy a still greater extent of territory. The men engaged in the war—the contractors, the several parties engaged, directly or indirectly—all this large body will be adverse to return; and their influence in favor of a continuation of the war, will be found too powerful to oppose. Well, sir, now that we have added sixty millions of dollars to the former amount expended, what will you get to indemnify it?—With the population, which you will have to sustain, and the army of forty or fifty thousand men, as the Secretary of War says, you will never get enough to pay it; and it will have to come out of the pockets of the people of the united States. This and the next generation, will have to bear this burden. We now come to the solemn considertion proposed by the resolution. I have shown the course proposed by the President. It is to blot out the nationality of Mexico and throw seven or eight millions of people on your hands, either as province or incorporated into our Union.—Shall we do either? No, Mr. President, neither; and for these reasons: First, It will be against the avowed object of the war. No message has been sent to Congress which has distinctly denied the object to be the extinction of the nationality of Mexico; and yet, sir, what we disavow will have been accomplished, and what we avowed will have been defeated. This, sir, at least, will be an impeachment of the ability of our government to manage its own affairs. I acknowledge the full amount of glory our army has acquired and shed on the country; but, Mr. President, I am afraid all our applause will be confined to our army. Every nation looks upon us as a hard-hearted people, who are more given to war than modern nations. However much we might rejoice at the courage, bravery and skill of our troops, and the astonishing victories they have achieved, he was yet sorry to confess that the government had lost that reputation for moderation and justice which had been its crowning attributes in its early days. If we shall attempt to hold Mexico as a province, or incorporate it into this Union, we shall find it utterly impracticable. We had never assimilated any of the Indian tribes with our people when incorporating ther territory into our Union. We have removed them farther away. We have never incorporated any people into this Union but the Caucasian race—the free white man; and shall we now corrupt this free white population by introducing into our confederation the Indians and the mixed races of Mexico? He protested most earnestly against such a policy. Our government is for the free white man.
This feature was the secret of its stability. The Spanish republics on this continent had failed, because they had mainly attempted to place the colored race on an equality with the whites, in assuming that by nature all men were equally adapted to free government; yet it was proposed to annex the Mexican states as territories, and place them on an equality with the rest of the states. He utterly protested against the adoption of any such policy in any form. He adverted to the proofs of history to show that the colored races could not be blended in the same government, and in the same terms with the white races; that the colored races are always degraded, and that the whites, even in a savage state, maintain some of the elements of free institutions. He came next to consider the two points in one; that the holding of Mexico in subjection would, in the end, be subversive of our free institutions, and that no such line of policy ought to be adopted. It would be a waste of time to argue that the incorporation of Mexico would be dangerous to our free institutions. He who understood the American constitution; he who had studied its character; he who had profited from the examples of history, and had marked the consequences, where large conquests have been held by a hostile nation, as territorial possessions, would need no other proof to convince him that to hold the republic of Mexico, either as a province or as territories, must lead to the subversion of our free institutions. In all the examples in which such incorporations of territories of foreign people, bearing anything near the proportions which Mexico bears to the United States, the end had been the downfall of the conquering party. With us, Mexico would add so much to the powers of the general government, that it would absorb all the powers of the states; it would become imperial; it would usurp the powers of the legislative department; all the powers of the government would fall into the hands of the executive, and with the prevailing rule of party proscription, and the increasing patronage of the executive, our institutions would not be able to combat the Presidential elections,—they could not resist the chock. Mr. Calhoun admonished gentlemen not to flatter themselves with the delusive idea, that we, as well as Great Britain, could hold great empires under subjection, and hold them in safety. Of all the governments that ever existed, England is possessed of the greatest power of expansion, without reducing her people to anarchy, or her officials to corruption. This was, in part, because the executive branch of the government, and the conservative, the House of Lords, were hereditary. Rome never had such a capacity for expansion. When the Roman empire extended east and west beyond the barriers of Italy, the central power began to weaken, and soon it became corrupt, and anarchy and violence were the order of the day. Yet, England had been going on in the extension of her dominions, without any visible symptoms of decay. Yet she could not long escape. She is even now paying the penalty; she is paying a penalty for her two hundred millions of dependants; which, like disproportionate superincumbent weight, threatens to crush the foundations of the superstructure. Yes, sir, instead of indemnity from her conquests, they are a burden to her; and even neighboring Ireland has taxed her resources for its support, and rim labor of her people, almost beyond their power to bear. Shall we go on and follow this example for territorial indemnities for the expense of our wars? Let us now consider the incorporation of Mexico into this Union. There are twenty states in Mexico; these we should have first to initiate as territories. The governors, the magistrates, the justices, would all have to be appointed by the Executive, as in our own territories, made up of our own people, or from the same foreign stock as ourselves. We have, in this first formation of a government to take care of them, and they are glad of it; but when they reach the age of twenty-one; when they come to years of maturity, they come in among us our equals, and in all respects the same. Not so with Mexico. You may call it annexation; but it will be a forced annexation. You will be compelled, whatever form of government you may establish, to hold it as a province, and it will be but a provincial government at last.
How long will you have to bold it in subjection, before it is reduced to obedience; before it is in truth and in character a part of this confederacy? It will take a long time. England has held Ireland for some several hundred years past, and still they are a hostile people. Canada has been in the possession of the British government for one hundred years past, and still the Canadians are a hostile people. Never will the time come, from all examples, when Mexico will agree to be blended with the laws and people of this Union. The nucleus of her ruling population are from the old stock; equal in every sense to the original Anglo-Saxon, and superior to it in that unconquerable attachment to their soil and their own institutions. But let us admit that all these difficulties are removed, how will it affect us to introduce some twenty foreign States into the Union, with a basis of one or two millions of pure blood, and all the rest,—some seven or eight millions,—Indians or mixed races, inferior in every respect to our Choctaws or Cherokees? We are under a great mistake, if we suppose all this population are ready for our peculiar institutions. I heard a gentleman of high character say, but the other day, that he believed it was our appointed mission to extend our institutions of civil and religious freedom over the benighted of this continent. This is a great mistake. Our institutions are only adapted to a people advanced in intelligence and civilization; and it was remarkable that in all the revolution of nations, the people had been more indebted for any advantages they had secured in their forms of government, more to accident, or a combination of circumstances, than to any foretaste or previous decision of the human mind. We are indebted for our constitution more to a conjunction of circumstances, than to the superior wisdom and intelligence of our forefathers; and herein lies our danger—that a conjunction of circumstances to which we may be indifferent for the time, may overthrow our institutions. We seem to have no fear of their stability; the preservation of our liberty is now lost in the glory of our arms. Nobody talks now of the blessings of liberty. In our early history the great anxiety was to retain our liberty. Now, the great anxiety is to convince the world of our military power. The motto used to be, that the power was always stealing from the many to the few, and that the price of liberty was perpetual vigilance. Now, we seem to remember these maxims not at all; but the opinion appears to be, that we hold our liberty by a divine right. I fear that if we do not be vigilant, we shall find this to be the greatest mistake of all; and it is a great mistake to suppose that it is our divine mission to carry the principles of our liberty, by force of arms, over this continent, and that nothing can affect our security. If we persist in this delusion, the day of retribution will come, and it will bring with it destructive consequences, as sure as I am now addressing this American Senate. I am, therefore, opposed to the policy of holding Mexico by right of conquest, and of annexing it, either as a province, or territories, or states of this government. But what are we to do? After speaking of his efforts to arrest the war and its consequences, Mr. Calhoun said, he saw not the smallest chance of disentangling ourselves, save in the defensive line; by taking, in this way, the decision and indemnity into our own hands. Had time been allowed, when the President sent in his message declaring a state of war, Mr. Calhoun said he should have vindicated a plan to be pursued. He would have relieved Gen. Taylor; he would have had a committee to inquire and report on the relations between us and Mexico, showing that as yet there was no actual state of war. Had that failed of inducing negotiations, he would have held the territories on this side of the Rio Grande, and maintained his position on the boundary which it might have been deemed proper to claim, which would embrace lands of some value to us, and of no use to Mexico. But he had been overrated. Where the defensive line should now be, he had no opinion now to give. He was not now prepared to say where we could designate the best line; but he would say, that we should evacuate the central provinces.
Mr. Reverdy Johnson.—What's that, Mr. Calhoun, we should evacuate?
Mr. Calhoun.—We should evacuate the central parts of the states now occupied, and call back the troops to a defined boundary, receiving sufficient territory for all proper indemnities, the final decision to be subject to negociation, as well as the expenses of the war. It may take years to secure a peace, even upon this plan; but one great point shall he gained—we shall disentangle ourselves. We are now tied to a dead corpse, sad we should disentangle ourselves from it as soon as possible. If we should only be kept quiet, and pursue our true international policy with masterly inactivity, and wait the day for our destiny, we shall do better than to gain ten thousand victories in battle. Mr. Calhoun said, he was an old man; he was almost among strangers; and that, if he had urged anything that was strange or peculiar upon the Senate, they must attribute it to the impressions of thirty-five years ago. This was not the first time he had opposed the policy of war. In the case of the proposed reprisal upon France, he had stood almost alone in the Senate to resist it. He was utterly opposed to it. England was utterly opposed to it. England had interfered, and no war took place. He admonished his friends of the administration that there might be some contingencies to come, which they did not see—something in the vigorous central prosecution of this war, from year to year, which would seal the death-warrant of our beloved institutions; and yet the party appeared to be reversing the order of their doctrines; they were opposed to the national debt; and the prosecution of this war was hourly adding to the national debt. The expenses of this campaign would be found equal to the expenses of the revolution. They were opposed to an increase of the patronage of the executive government; yet what could so rapidly increase it as the policy now pursued? They were in favor of a pure metallic currency, yet did we not all know, that our treasury notes and paper dock were becoming more and more the staple of our country? They were in favor of free trade, yet the war thus sought to be prosecuted has already rendered it impossible to make any progress in free trade for many years to come.
The alternative is pressing. It is magnanimous to retrace your steps when you are in error; it is an act of reason to sacrifice your mere pride for the good of the country. In saying that there is no alternative between this defensive line of policy and that of the President, I say so, because public opinion is made up, and there can be no peace with Mexico, short of an acquisition of territory. Mr. Calhoun only spoke to his friends on the whig side of the House, and bore testimony that though they had voted for the war, which he had opposed, they had done it under promise, and for the relief of Gen. Taylor; but they had voted to get territory at the last session; and at this session, when the public sentiment was made up, the only way for safety now was, the defensive, and it must be adopted at this session, or we shall have to go on and meet the hazard of entire occupation, for better or for worse. He would propose nothing now; but if he found that he should be supported in these views, he should yet, perhaps, move for a committee to confer with the distinguished generals now in town, on the proper and best line to be adopted. It may not be this year; it may not be for many years; but we shall secure a peace; we shall secure the great object of disentangling ourselves.
Mr. Calhoun having concluded, on motion of Mr. Sevier, the resolutions were then laid on the table, to be taken up again after the bill to increase the army has been disposed of.
THE SENATE.
The following is an extract from a letter from the Albany Patriot's Washington correspondent:
The Senate has changed faces a good deal in two years. A number of the old pillars are there yet, though somewhat crumbling. Mr. Calhoun grown old—irretrievably so. He was formerly erect as a May-pole—his hair brushed up, short and stiff, gave him, with the penetrating glance of his eye, the air of authority and command. His hair is now allowed to hang flabby and flax-like upon his his shoulders; his face is thin and sharp as a wedge; his spare and shadowy trunk stoops and curves at an angle of shout forty-five. He looks like the forlornest Prime Minister of all Christendom! Certainly the care of the Palmetto State is upon his arm; and that, to him, is all the world! Poor men! When Clay and Calhoun are gone, they have no successors in their exact position; no heir apparent to their pernicious influence. As things have gone the last century, what they call statesmanship has been the direst curse of mankind. The less we have of statesman craft, the better for the world. Let us try to educate, under happier influences, and a better discipline, the budding mind that is soon to rule the destinies of the world. Party traffic and government barter have made sad havoc with public and private morals, as they have with the weightiest interests of society. The mock dignity and solemn villanies of our Senate stand in most deplorable contrast with the clear-sightedness, high-toned integrity and devotion to truth and duty that ought to characterize its action in the inflexible maintainence of justice, and in vindicating the claims of universal human nature. I will tell you more about the Senate at another time.
A word now on another subject, The infernal deeds of tyranny in the form of chattelhood are still perpetrated here with sufficient enormity and grossness, one would think, to disgust and put to shame the "outside barbarians" themselves. If we cannot summon virtue and manliness enough among our people to cleanse this District from the foul practices of oppression, nature is likely to take the work into her own hands at last. She works on a double scale. The aspirations of freedom have started a strong tide of emigration Northward, and the instigations of avarice and deviltry have forced another Southward! Between the two strange processes, slavery is quite certain to get contracted in its dimensions at a pretty rapid rate within this national enclosure. It is estimated that not less than four hundred "servants" have been sold from the District—mostly, of course, from the cities of Washington und Georgetown—the last season; say within eight or ten months. It is also supposed that half that number have fallen in love with the voluntary principle, and gone to the North in pursuit of labor and wages! Of course this double business will go on with more or less briskness till the slave fabric here melts away, and its place is supplied by the "industry of freedom." What an infamy upon the nation! How foul a reproach upon a people, themselves shielded by the panolpy of free institutions! A sorrowful young man just came to me for assistance. A girl at the age of eighteen, of his acquaintance, and brought up a neighbor to him, and whom, I conjecture, he sincerely and ardently loves, has been sold, and is now in the pen. Her master disposed of her, because her brother, some weeks since, made his escape, and he did not know how contagious the love of liberty in the family might prove! The slave trader will take five hundred dollars for her, if her friends can make the purchase. Of strangers, he would demand considerably more than that sum!
My pen was stopped at the close of the last sentence for the recital of another tale, and to hear the claims of other victims urged. A man was yesterday told by a white brother in his church—the Methodist—that his family were sold—a wife and four children; and that if he could do it, he had better provide for their safety at once, before the trader could come for them! He has secreted them for the time. What shall be done next? He, himself, poor fellow, is the property of another person! How shall the rescue of that family from the hands of gamblers in human sinews, be effected? The whole North would lend boats, coaches or horses, but votes—the mightiest of all powers in this republic—they have not the honesty or the independence to lend or give! I shall have occasion to refer to these cases again, perhaps. It is now time to finish these paragraphs. For news, matters are rather dull just now. After the "holidays," we shall move faster, and I'll tell you "heaps" of gossip.
Yours, ever,
HONEOYE.
THE NORTH STAR.
ROCHESTER, JANUARY 14, 1848.
JOHN C. CALHOUN.
This bold senatorial defender of slavery, and faithful sentinel upon its bloody ramparts, ever vigilant, unwearied, and undeviating in his devotion to the American slave system, has recently betrayed his fears in the senate, as to the effect which the present false, foul, and infernal war, waged against Mexico, will have upon what he terms the "peculiar institutions" of our republican government. In the speech before us, and which may be found on the first page of out present number, he stoutly opposes the further prosecution of the war, with its present aims and designs; counsels the withdrawal of our army to a line which he does not designate; scouts the idea of taking inhabited and cultivated lands as indemnity from Mexico; explains the motives which led him to propose peace resolutions last winter; demonstrates the absurdity of that miserable pretence of "conquering a peace;" shows that the more victories gained the more difficulties we shall find in making peace; shows, also, that we have been defeated by our own success; argues the impossibility of a free government springing up under the care of a conquering nation; argues the inferiority of the Mexican people; deprecates with much apparent solemnity the extinction of the Mexican government; and thinks the incorporation of her people with those of the United States, would be a deathblow to our "free institutions."
In reading this speech, the question naturally arises, What has given this new and singular shape to his policy? What terrible signs in the firmament, moral and political, has this prophet of tyranny discovered? Why does he abandon, or seem to abandon his notions of extending slavery in Mexico? From whence come those gloomy apprehensions which he so eloquently sets forth in the Senate? Happily for us, we need not long remain in doubt. A little reflection supplies the required information. Mr. Calhoun is a slaveholder. Slaveholding has been for years the very sun of his political system. Not a measure has been proposed or adopted by by him, but has been thoroughly examined in the red light of slavery. In this light he regards men as well as measures. It is his great test of character. Unite with him in this, and he will forget all other differences; differ from him in this, and he forgets and repudiates all other points of agreement. He regards Slavery as the very "corner-stone of our republican institutions,"—as the "most safe and stable basis of free institutions in the world;" and so far from being in any sense an evil, he considers it a positive good. He speaks as coolly about a man in fetters as he would of a horse in harness. The condition of the former is to his mind as proper as that of the latter. His iron heart is yet to throb the first time in pity for the heart-broken slave; and his lips have yet to confess the first sting of a guilty conscience.
What Mr. Calhoun has been, we may well presume he now is; and on the truth of this presumption will depend the correctness of the solution of his motives for opposing the war and abandoning his system of slavery propagandism. He either sees or apprehends danger to slavery, in the prosecution of the war, and the consequent blotting out of the Mexican republic. He begins to see, that to subjugate, and fasten slavery upon a people and territory already free, is a move altogether too bold, and one that must only react against his darling institution. For once, this brass-browed manstealer seems checked in his nefarious designs, by the well-expressed opinions of foreign nations. For once he makes a pause, to learn what the world think of his diabolical movements; and when he hears the adverse report, like the whiskered pirate who prowls along the African coast, when pursued, he counsels his infernal crew to "lay low"—abide their time. Such is Mr. Calhoun's policy. His boldest word is "defence," and his wisest counsel, "masterly inactivity." He does not abandon his prey, but his mode of catching it. He would still the roar of our cannon, which has opened the eye of nations upon as; he would lull them to deep with songs of peace, that he may do by stealth what seems too hazardous to be done openly. He combines in his composition the boldness of the lion and the cunning of the fox; and as he grows old, the latter quality predominates. The time was when he was boldest among the bold; when defying all opposition, he boldly marched unceremoniously to his object. But age has come upon him, teaching him that cunning must supply the place of strength. But we warn him and his companions in crime, that neither strength nor cunning will much longer avail them; their strength shall be broken, their cunning confounded, and their whip-scared victims released from their chain. God speed the day!
THE LAND OF LIBERTY.
This is the title of a very accurate picture of "our glorious country," by that distinguished artist, philosopher, and reformer, Punch. Of all the intelligent and distinguished persons whom we had the honor to meet is London, none seemed to possess more complete information respecting our "peculiar institutions," than this same Mr. Punch; and we may do him the justice to say, that few make better use of their knowledge than he. It is not now, however, our purpose to draw a picture of Mr. Punch, but to give our readers some idea of the picture he draws of the present aspect of our "glorious country."
As might be expected, the artist has bestowed the greatest amount of labor and skill on slavery, that most prominent feature of the American face, to which the people, old and young—priest and politician, bow with the utmost reverence and admiration. The slaveholder is drawn to the life. His person stretched out on two chairs, resting his right leg over the back of one, and his left on the head of a pro-trait bust of Washington. Around his person is a belt of arms, containing a bowie knife and a seven-barrel revolving pistol. Under his arm is a knotted "cat-o'-nine tails." On the left of him is a chest, upon which are papers labelled, Texas—Oregon—Dollars. Behind, is a woman half naked, tied to a whipping-post. In front of him is a group of slaves and slave-drivers. Prominent in the group are two female slaves kneeling with their hands closely tied behind their backs. One driver is in the act of flogging a woman; another, with a look of Satanic indifference, is branding a kneeling woman on the back with a hot iron,—the smoke of her broiling flesh and blood rising from the wound. Off in the distance is a coffle of slaves driven by two while men, with long-lashed whips. They seem to have just landed from an American slave-ship. Above this scene is floating our star-spangled banner, raised upon a lofty staff, crowned with a capacious liberty cap. On the right of the flag is a representation of Lynch law—a mob in the act of hanging a negro. On the left is a picture of repudiation, illustrated by a well-drawn American in the act of stealing the handkerchief of an Englishman. Above this scene are two pictures representing our duelling practices. Still further on, we have the war with Mexico; stabbing, shooting, hanging, robbing churches,—bayonets, swords, guns, cannons, bombs,—all enveloped in fire and smoke. And above all this horrid confusion of blood and slaughter, is a terrific picture of Satan brooding over the whole scene with a grin of infernal satisfaction.
Now, what a picture is this to be looked upon abroad! and what American has the folly or audacity to deny its truthfulness! At the hazard of making many enemies, and losing some friends, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Punch for the picture, and beg him, in the name of three millions of our enslaved brethren, to continue to notice us, in his world-read journal. It is not impossible that we may wring from a sense of shame what we have been unable to gain from American sense of justice.
COLORED NATIONAL PRESS.
We have waited patiently for a full official report of the doings of the National Convention of colored people and their friends, held in Troy, New York, in the month of October, 1847. Why such a report has not reached us we cannot divine. We think, as a member of that convention, we were entitled to a copy of the report, and we would respectfully suggest to those into whose hands was committed the publication of those Minutes, that promptitude is essential to the confidence which is necessary to carrying forward a great cause like that in which we are engaged. We trust that no unworthy motive has withheld from us those proceedings; but would like to know the cause. Perhaps Mr. Garnet can explain.
In the absence of a full report we have copied from an imperfect copy of Minutes, furnished us by our friend, W. C. Nell, the report adopted with reference to establishing a National Press. Upon this report we wish now to say a few words.
It was our good or ill fortune to oppose the adoption of this report, in the Convention; and there, as in the imperfect minutes before us, our motives for opposing the report were indirectly set down to selfishness; and we doubt not, that such persons as are unable to appreciate manly independence, will set down what we are now about to say, to the same unworthy motive; but we shall speak our sentiments, nevertheless, conscious that in so doing we are discharging a duty solemnly imposed by the high responsibility of our position.
The report adopted by the Convention sets forth the desirableness of there being a printing press under the entire control of colored persons in this country. Here we agree with the report. To prove such necessity no argument need be urged. Our condition, as an oppressed and injured people, proclaims it; and it is with the view of securing needful press, that we oppose the doubtful scheme proposed in the report. We assert, and the press of this country has proclaimed the fact from one end of the land to the other, that such a press now exists; that, for the first time in the western continent, there is a press under the entire control and direction of colored persons. We have, indeed, had papers conducted by colored persons, but we believe that ours is the first printing establishment ever owned is this country by colored persons. We make no merit of this; for the credit belongs not to us, but to the generous friends in the old world, who, seeing our destitution and difficulties, kindly came to our assistance, and gave us the means of purchasing our establishment. Through them, the colored people of this country now have a printing press and a weekly periodical dedicated to their cause, and devoted to their interest.
Now, the question is, shall we faithfully use the one we have, or shall we neglect to use it, and go in search of another! Which of the two courses seems most in harmony with common sense? The report provdes for a foreign agent to collect money, who shall have for his services thirty cents on every dollar which he may collect. By this we understand that as agent is about to be sent to England to solicit money for the establishment in question. But we respectfully ask the advocates of this measure, What answer their agent can make, when the question is asked him abroad, "What have you done with the press which we have already given you? Is it worn out in the service, or does it now exist? Is it supported, or has it been neglected and allowed to languish, for the want of the support and countenance of the very persons who are now engaged in soliciting another?" And may it not be very properly said to such agent,—"You may ask for another, with much greater probability of success, when you have shown a disposition to use the instrument already in your hands. But to all this it may be answered, We not only want a press, but a "National Press." And pray, what is the difference between a press and a national press? and why is the one to be preferred before the other? The report informs us, that we need such a press "to tell the world of our position in the path of human progress." And is it necessary that a press should be called "National," in order to tell the world of our position in the path of human progress? We think that that press, call it by what name you please,—Mystery, Ram'shorn, Northern Star, or North Star, best sustained, most ably conducted, and thoroughly devoted to the rights and liberties of our enslaved and oppressed fellow-countrymen, will be the colored national press of this country, in every essential sense of the word. And we therefore say to our brethren, Use and support the papers you already have; for it is not impossible, that by catching at the shadow you may lose the substance. You have several newspapers. They are all calling upon you loudly for support: help them, rather than seek for others. If they are not what they ought to be, your support may make them such. We therefore call upon the Smiths, the Crummells, the Reasons, the Zuilles,—Beamans, Garnetts, Topps, and Penningtons, and all others who wish well to our sacred cause, to unite in sustaining the colored periodicals already in existence. We are happy to know that the two gentlemen last named are already interested in sustaining the North Star; and we hope others will follow their noble example.
Come, brethren, let us one and all lay aside party differences and sectarian preferences, and rally around the Star that never sets, except to those who go to the slavery cursed regions of the south; and a glorious victory over cruelty and oppression will certainly crown our righteous endeavors.
☞ On the outside of this week's paper will be found a declaration proclaiming the republic of Liberia independent of the American Colonization Society. The document shows the determination of the colonists to occupy a highly commendable position among the nations of the earth. We have no sympathy with the motives which induced the purchase of the colony; and we have little with the despondency that drove our brethren from our shores. The bitter fruits of their yielding to the infernal spirit of expatriation in the first place is now in full bloom with us. Fifty thousand of our fellow courtrymen, now nominally free, in the State of Virginia, are on the point of being driven from their hearths and homes before the bayonets of these same American Christians; which, had we resisted in the first instance, might have forever prevented anything like this last effort to colonize us.
We must feel this land to be our home, and make our white fellow countrymen feel the same. If we fail in this, our case is hopeless; but in this we cannot fail.
COMMUNICATIONS.
For the North Star.
LECTURING AGENTS.
The toils and trials of those who go forth through the length and breadth of this misnamed land of freedom to do strong battle with the foul fiend, slavery, that, like the sorcerers of olden time, has thrown a spell over the people, are, I fear, known and duly appreciated by but few. It is no slight thing to lay aside the many pleasures of home, and assume a life almost like that of the nomadic Tartar; become a constant traveler from place to place, and face, by day and by night, the fierce blasts of the wintry tempests, or toil on, beneath the burning sun of mid-summer, toward some distant point, that must be reached by a fixed time. These are, however, only physical trials: a strong frame and a stout heart will bid them defiance, although they will, in time, do their work, even on the man of iron constitution.
But, do ever abolitionists think of the life of constant warfare which the anti-slavery lecturer leads? He must be armed, not with the cumbrous and glittering panolpy of the soldier in carnal warfare, but with weapons which it wearies the stoutest champion always to bear. The sword of truth must be ever ready, and, like the knight of old, when entering a conflict from which there could be no retreat, and in which powerful foes were long to be struggled with, its scabbard may well be thrown aside as useless. The shield of faith must he carried; the breast-plate of righteousness must be buckled on; and, though he may be shod, like an olden apostle, with the preparation of the gospel of peace, it is not until the foe has been smitten to the very heart, and lies prostrate at his feet, that he can dearly discern, in the glittering sandals, emblems of the fact, that sin must be vanquished ere true peace can be gained.
Perplexities and discouragements are on every side: the craft of the priest; the wiles of the politician; and the sophistry and art of the pretended patriot, must be met and refuted. And last, though not least, the coldness and sullen, or active opposition which often drives him, after a long and wearisome effort, from the closed doors of the church, or the impassable portals of the popular hall, to some inconvenient and unfrequented corner, in which to plead the gospel of freedom to a few who may be led, from idle curiosity, or love to the cause, to come together. Not that such a life has no compensation; for, if such were my purpose, I might tell of the communings with the noble ones of earth; the blessings of the poor and needy; and the strong faith that God and right must triumph. But the great object of writing these few words is, to call to the mind of every anti-slavery man and woman, in city, town, or country, the fact, that when the lecturer crosses their path, or comes beneath their roof, they can do much, very much, to make his way easy, and inspire him with cheerful courage, by giving him a cordial welcome, expressing their earnest and warm sympathy, and especially by showing their faith by works, and making every effort to open the doors of the most frequented public places, and extending notice which will insure a good audience. I write not thus because I deem abolitionists deficient in warmth or hospitality: far from it; for my own heart has often been cheered by the homelike welcome and active aid of lovers of out great cause; but simply to stir up "the pure mind by way of remembrance," so that they may do all in their power to strengthen the hearts of those whose place is ever in the front of battle. G. B. S.
DENUNCIATION.
Although an Abolitionist, in the strictest sense of the word, yet, I do not believe in, nor recognize, "wholesale denunciation," as calculated to advance the righteous cause or ameliorate the wretched condition of suffering and oppressed humanity.
It seems too much akin to the fierce, north wind of icy winter, congealing with its chilling breath, the exhausted sympathies of earth's vexed and wearied traveler; forcing him, in his extremity, to wrap his fur-embossed habiliments more closely about him, and rush on with a reckless determination to stem the fitful winds and currents that oppose his onward, and, to him, justifiable course. Too well does it compare with the destructive winds that sweep o'er Sahara's arid bosom, rearing its sand-clouds of indignation, and burying in its direful course every oasis of sympathy in the breast of humanity.
But forbearance sometimes, it is said, ceases to be a virtue; yet a resort to denunciation, which is but the pretext for a resort to force in very many instances, is a greater evil. Ofttimes, as the tale of wrong and outrage committed against helpless innocence is iterated in my hearing, a spirit of indignation, ere I am aware, arises, and I am led to exclaim:
And thrust it deep into the guilty heart
Of him who dares his fellow thus outrage,
'Twould do him justice. The impious wretch
That lives beneath the vertic rays of light,
And having eyes, sees not his brother's right
To life and liberty, and happiness;
And him deprives of these by brutal force,
Than this, severer punishment deserves.
And he that aids or wilfully abets,
By priestly cant or lying tongue, this vile
And God-provoking sin of slavery,
Deserves perdition's deepest, darkest plunge."
But this, I am reminded, is but "casting out Satan by the prince of devils;" and the rising whirlwind of indignation, which the fostering of such a spirit conjures up in the mind, is checked and subdued by the words of Him, whose melting accents fell upon the ear of man as dews
"Upon the leaflets of the Tree of Life,"
and who only resorted to denunciation when the destiny of Jerusalem and her children was irrevocably sealed, and their destruction inevitable.
How much more effectual and how omnipotent is truth clad in its swasive attire, let Luther, Melancthon and others—Wesley and coadjutors—Wilberforce, Hawkins and associates, attest. It is to the stolid minds of men what the south wind and "the sun from Capricorn to Cancer wheeling back" is to the thick-ribbed, icy mountains of the polar regions. It subdues and brings to its supernal influence implicit subjection; warns man of his weakness and insufficiency; begets the most kindly feeling, even towards enemies, and counsels to dependence on the arm that moves the universe, and, instead of denunciation, when there is a prospect of reform, it prompts, the humble petition:
May pierce the error-shrouded minds of men,
As barbed spears the hearts of them who fall
A sacrifice in war's unholy strife:
That man no more oppress, nor brutalize,
Nor wrong his fellow man; but feel his woe,
And low estate, and haste to his relief,
And pour into his wounds, that long have bled,
The healing oil of mutual sympathy;
And aid, and love, that each from other needs,
And all demand, as Nature's God ordains."
Seneca Falls, January 2 1848.
For the North Star.
"THE BURNED SHIP."
The above is the title of a thrilling and affecting story which I read some months since in the Saturday Courier, said to be founded on fact, the substance of which is as follows:
The captain of an American vessel engaged in the cotton trade, hearing of the sudden advance in the price of that article in Great Britain, immediately purchased an extensive cargo, and set sail. Having long and ardently cherished the idea of one day becoming "rich," and knowing that in view of the extrusive rise of cotton, if he could but reach that port before others, his golden dreams of wealth would he realized, he resolved that nothing should turn him from his purpose, and all his thoughts were now bent on the accomplishment of this one object.
The third or fourth night they had been out at sea, a great light was descried at a distance, which soon proved to be a ship on fire. A little nearer approach gave him and his crew a more distinct view of the appalling sight, and brought them within hearing of the cries and shrieks at terror, and the roar of the signal guns from the burning vessel, which lay somewhat off the direction they were pursuing. They soon discerned that the fire had made great inroads on the ship, and beheld the passengers and crew standing on the forward deck, the flames at times almost curling round them. As soon as they discovered the approaching vessel, they all simultaneously held up their hands and gave one long and thrilling shout of joy, which rung out on the night winds and along the billows of the deep. They were about to be rescued!—those fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and lovers—from a doom so unspeakably terrible; and thoughts of home and friends in distant lands, from whom, a moment before, they expected to be torn forever, now filled their hearts, as they stood, embracing each other, nearly frantic with joy! During this time there was a struggle going on in the mind of the cotton trading captain. The "lust for gold" haunted him. He seemed influenced by a spirit of infatuation. In that dreadful emergency he hesitated. The delay of a few hours, or moments, might be sufficiently long for other vessels to pass, and then his fortune was lost. What should he do? A moment more, and the love of gold triumphed; and he ordered his crew, who were as hardened as he, to pass onward. Those on the burning ship, not dreaming that he was going to pass, and leave them thus to perish, stood gazing impressed with the thought that the vessel was only "rounding to," until it had passed some distance beyond them; and still they could not believe it, though doubt and uncertainty, and dismal foreboding now began to agitate their hearts, as they gazed yearningly on the receding vessel; and, at length, when the terrible reality forced itself upon their minds, such a wail of agony and despair as went up from those poor beings, no mortal ear ever before heard. It seemed to pierce the very heavens, and rung on the ear of the unnatural and icy-hearted captain with a terrific power. Their joy was turned to agony; their hope to despair. "The flames rolled on;" the wild winds howled; and old ocean's "bounding billows and foamy surges" beat around the burning ship, no more, nor less, unpitying than the human monster who refused, for the sake of gold, to reach forth his hand to save. And he passed on,—reached the port in due time—and realized a vast fortune. He returned to this country, and lived in splendor and affluence: but that dread shriek ever haunted him. Amidst all his wealth, he was wretched, which was remarked by his friends to whom, after many years, he revealed the awful circumstance.
So dark and terrible a picture of the human character seems unnatural and incredible. We can scarcely believe that any human being could have the inhumanity and heartlessness to do so base, cruel and hard-hearted a deed—so revolting and shocking to all our better feelings—a deed which seems to stand without a parallel in the annals of infamy and crime! But is it so? Is it more inhuman to be a passive agent in the destruction of our fellow beings, than an active one? Is it worse to suffer them to perish, where we could save them, than to go forth with sword in hand and slaughter them? Is not this nation engaged in a work little less inhuman and dreadful? Does it hot stand passively and indifferently by on the one hand, while thousands are perishing by its "peculiar institutions?" and is it not actively engaged, on the other hand, in the destruction of fellow beings by slavery, and by a war which riots in the slaughter of Mexican fathers and mothers, and their beautiful daughters? and under pretexts and excuses more paltry and unreasonable, if possible? And yet, agonizing as is the thought, these rapacious and horrible doings receive the sanction and support of those who set themselves up as the religious instructors and teachers of mankind—Reverend Clergymen and Doctors of Divinity. This awful deed, when done under circumstances a little different—when "legalized am sanctified,"—becomes popular and praiseworthy; winning for the actor the title of hero and patriot. Do not such men more nearly resemble, or partake of the nature of wild beasts, or blood-snuffing vultures? And viewed in the light of a better philosophy and a purer Christianity—when mind shall have expanded and developed, will they not be so regarded? Then a truer appreciation of things as they really are, will be had, and the glaring and fatal inconsistencies and incongruities which now prevail, will be seen and acknowledged, and practical works, full of blessedness, and wisdom and peace, will follow.
New Brighton, Pa., Dec. 26, 1847.
For the North Star.
RELIGIOUS EQUALITY.
There is no equality like that of religion. Not that of laws, the most clear and inviolable; for human nature is fallible, and the most conscientious judge may, through ignorance, pass an unrighteous sentence. Not that of birth; for while some are supplied with all that is conducive to the growth and development both of body and mind, others are left to grow up like the neglected weed, without culture, and with scanty nourishment, subject to every privation and every hardship. Not that of life; for while some possess every means of a pleasurable bodily and mental existence—free in thought, free in action—others are the victims of a detestable, heaven-insulting system of slavery, which debases the soul, destroys the intellect, unmans and deteriorates the whole being. Not that of death; for while to some the coming of the last enemy is delayed by the skill of the physician and the healing virtues of medicine, others fall his early prey by the effects of protracted toil and accumulated suffering. But religion is liable to no such partialities. The wonders of creation are above, beneath, and around us. If we look up into the firmament, we behold it peopled with a thousand worlds, which forever proclaim the wisdom and majesty of their Creator. If we look around, we see beneficence everywhere displayed in the beauties of the primrose, the carnation, and the dahlia, which delight the eye, and perfume the air with their fragrance; and the notes of nature's warblers pour upon the ear their sweet songs of happiness, thrilling in each bosom like a delightful dream of paradise. And the beautifully diversified landscape—the waving trees, the green fields, and the winding stream—the rain and the morning dew, the ice and the snow—are all produced by the same uncontrolled, free, omnipresent goodness. After surveying even for a moment, these works of his Creator, what soul of man is there that does not expand in gratitude and praise, and is ready to burst forth, with the Hebrew poet, into one of those most beautiful songs, which are at the same time the very soul of poetry and the essence of adoration: "O ye frost and snow, bless ye the Lord; praise ye his name forever and ever! O ye ice and cold, bless ye the Lord, praise ye his name forever and ever! Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all hosts; mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars; kings of the earth, and all people, princes and all judges of the earth. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven."
Such is the equality of religion. It is not restricted to particular creeds, nor is it the peculiar privilege of any denomination. It is free as the air we breathe; it is extended as the universe. It is the charter of our nature, and forms a part of our very existence. It is alike the privilege of the king and the beggar—the prince and the peasant—the learned and the ignorant. It is the inheritance of all God's children—the inalienable birthright of all his intelligent creatures.—J .D.
For the North Star.
GLOOMY THEOLOGIANS.
There is a class of persons with whom I have no sympathy; as they seem to have none with the world around them. They can see no beauty in this world of ours,—no harmony in the works of nature,—nothing praiseworthy in the works of art; and, apparently afraid that Job's remark, "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward," should occasionally prove untrue, seem desirous of increasing the curse of sin, by removing every rational means of enjoyment; and of augmenting man's causes of sorrow, till not a smile enlightens the countenance, nor a feeling of pleasure gladdens the heart. May we not ask such persons, whether they are acting a benevolent part, in transforming this world into a desert, barren and desolate, which the sooner we have traversed the better? Is it true that we should not love and admire those things that are excellent and beautiful? Why, then, did our Creator form us as we are? Why did he give us minds capable of enjoyment? Why does not every sound of music grate upon the ear, instead of being pleasant and harmonious? And why, was the world made a scene of such beauty, grandeur, and sublimity? Above us, in the starry firmament, the discoveries of science show, in all their inexpressible harmony, innumerable suns and systems like our own, ever rolling on in their undeviating course, displaying the wisdom and power of their Creator. Is there no pleasure to be derived from the contemplation of these? We think of the inhabitants with which these worlds are peopled. Are they happier than we, or are they, like us, perplexed with cares and disappointments? Have they their Alexanders, their Cæsars, and their Bonapartes? Can they boast of a Plato or a Newton? and can they, as we, unroll a long catalogue of poets, patriots, and philosophers? Or are they not the abodes of the ever-blessed,—the spotless mansions of unfallen happiness? How unenviable are the feelings of the few who can find no pleasure in such contemplations! Around, are spread out on every hand the wonders of creation. The air, the earth, the sea, and the sky, are all teeming with beauty and adorned with loveliness. The setting sun sheds on the one horizon its stream of glowing light, and the pale moon appears in silvery brightness on the other. The rain falls from heaven, watering the earth, and the dew distils its vivifying influences. The hill and dale, the trees and the fields, the streams, the lakes, and the mighty ocean, all spread out before us their unnumbered beauties. He must be more than man who can fully appreciate all their loveliness, and less than man who can find no pleasure in surveying them.
Away, then, with the rigid orthodoxy that would rob this world of all that there is in it worth living for! Away with the theology that inculcates such doctrines! But let the true soul of man, in harmony with God and nature, continue still to find
Books in the running brooks, and good in everything."—J. D.
THE MEETING ON MAIN STREET.
In the meeting house of the Wesleyan Methodists, on Main street, where amid the many popular and large pro-slavery congregations of this city, a small band of men and women meet to hear the Gospel of Freedom and Love for all, an Anti-Slavery lecture was given by Frederick Douglass, last Sunday afternoon. After prayer by Mr. Benson, the clergyman of the society, and the singing of an anti-slavery hymn (which by the way are rarely to be found in hymn books used in public worship,) Mr. Douglass spoke for an hour or more to a respectable audience who had come together notwithstanding the severity of the storm.—He dwelt for some time on the nature of real Christianity, showing to be a world-wide faith-recognising all as brethren, raising up the degraded, freeing the slave, and strengthening the weak. Toward the conlusion of his remarks, he spoke in a feeling manner, which drew tears from many eyes, of the cruel prejudice against his race, and gave a simple narrative of some of his own experience of good and ill treatment as a colored man. The ad,dress was given in a familiar manner; the speaker saying that he felt more like talking with those present, than making a speech to them, and apparently produced a happy effect on the listeners. His sentiments were warmly responded to by the minister and a number of the members of the society; and it was cheering to see and feel that amid the prejudice which drives the colored man to the negro pew in so many churches in this city, and the stern bigotry which cries "Infidel" against those who ask that God's truth shall free the black man as well as the white man, and make all brethren, here was a different spirit—on oasis in the desert. S.
ROCHESTER LADIES' ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.
The committee of the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, gratefully acknowledge the receipt of valuable and saleable articles from friends in the country for the recent fair. A contribution from the anti-slavery women of Ledyard, helped to make the tables in the hail attractive; from Walworth and Farmington, came the friends with cheerful greetings, bringing the result of the effort of their sewing circle, in rich, tasteful articles, and giving their efficient aid at the tables: from Waterloo, came as a token of remembrance, a donation of books, perfumery, &c.,; a contribution from Williamson, the result of the labors of little company of workers in our good cause, was forwarded with an excuse for personal non attendance, owing to the fatal illness of one of their number, whose decease in the flower of her days, will be lamented by all. A friend in Mt. Morris sent her individual contribution, which went to aid the display on the article tables; and another from Bath, brought acceptable aid, both by donation of goods and personal presence. During the fair, a box of useful and fancy goods came from Port Byron, though not too late to be sold, and thus give valuable help to the cause; an offering from a friend in Wisconsin was indeed acceptable, enhanced by the distance now separating us from one who formerly was a co-laborer hero at home.
Most thankfully were all these articles received; and in behalf of more than a million of our sisters, crushed, abused and bleeding under the lash, the earnest hope is expressed that the same zeal which urged the women in the places spoken of, to come together in the sewing circle, and thus send help so much needed, may in the future bring forth fruit yet more abundantly, and that the women of every neighborhood in Western New York, may "go and do likewise."
In behalf of the committee, C. A. F. S.
Western New York Anti-Slavery Society.—The Executive Committee are requested to meet at the house of Isaac Post, 36, Sophia Street, Rochester, on Tuesday evening, January 18th, at 7 o'clock. A full attendance is specially important.
Per order, W. C. NELL, Sec.
FRANKLIN'S BIRTH-DAY.
The Printers of Rochester will commemorate the one hundred and forty-second anniversary of the birth-day of Franklin, on Monday evening, the 17th inst. They respectfully tender an invitation to their fellow craftsmen in the surrounding towns to unite with them on the occasion; also, to the retired printers of the city. The celebration will be held at the Irving House, kept by Col. T. W. Haskell, a veteran printer.
Our friends in the country, who intend to favor us with their company, will please notify the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements of the fact, on or by Friday next.
JAMES VICK, Jr., Ch'n
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
H. C., Poplar Ridge, New York. We hope to give our readers some extracts from his encouraging letter.
J. H., Clyde. His views may be perfectly correct, but they are regarded as more theological than is suited to the columns of the North Star.
L. G. B., Indianapolis. We forwarded copies, but must say to him, as we do to all who would obtain subscribers, that subscriptions must be prepaid.
A. S. Sullivan, Ohio. We are glad to acknowledge his communication and cash enclosed. The parcel will be forwarded to his address; and we hope many other such agencies may be established.
J. C. H., Brooklyn, New York. Thanks for his letter of 4th inst., and exertions for the Star.
J. C., Wellsville, Ohio. List received and whole number mailed.
S. B., Salem, Ohio. Letters of Jan. 7th received, and names credited. He may expect a letter.
S. S. B., Greenhill, Ohio. We gratefully acknowledge the subscribers and friendly communication. Such agencies are to our liking, as we believe them profitable to all parties.
W. H. T., Albany. The views of our friend are in harmony with many others on the subject of our letter to Mr. Clay; but neither the loss of subscribers nor the displeasure of the community shall deter us from a faithful exposure of slaveholders in high or low places; and we are assured of your support in an uncompromising course.
CORRESPONDENCE.
The following is extracted from a letter from an English friend:
Hail to thee, bright and beautiful Star! Over the wide ocean wave we trace thy first, faint beams; and our hearts beat high with hope and joy. Mayest thou shine, like a gem of purest water, upon the darkened skies of that land from whose hills and fields of virgin greenness the mists of slavery have so long arisen; hanging, like a blank and lowering cloud, where else the light of freedom, intellect and religion would have shone with transcendent lustre. Often may the menacing clouds of calumny and hatred threaten to obscure thy beams and dim thy radiance; but shine thou on, unchangingly, in the pure heavens of truth and love. Receive thy light alone from the Eternal Fountain: then will the thousands who have rejoiced in thee, look calmly on the threatening cloud, and await its vanishing, in the firm faith that they shall again behold thee, in renewed beauty and unsullied brightness. So shalt thou be to the mental eye of oppressed millions that which thine antetype in the blue heavens above hath been so long to his outward gaze. Point thou, ever and unchangeably, to a land of freedom, that thus thy gentle beam may keep alive in his soul one spark of that manhood which the floods of oppression and the waves of tyranny have so long striven to quench.
And not to the slave alone shall thy beams glance hope and confidence; to the warm and faithful hearts that beat so ardently for his well being; to the true champions of freedom who fight her bloodless battles with the sacred weapons of truth and justice—be thou, as the conflict deepens, a cheering, guiding Star. May it be theirs to rejoice in thy beams so long as the warfare rages; and to hail, at length, the dawn of the long anticipated morning, when the rising sun of freedom shall light the horizon of the enfranchised slave, and he shall tread, erect in his long-wtthheld manhood, the shores of his nativity, and walk through the length and breadth of a land of liberty, "rejoicing is the joy" of the present, and with a heart filled with adoring gratitude in the memory of these by-gone times, when darkness was around him like a funeral pall, and his trembling and timid glance was alone chested by the constant beams of the distant North Star!
To the Editors of the North Star:
Gentlemen:—In the revolutions passed at the Yearly Anti-Slavery Meeting, held on Sunday, December 19th, in Minerva Hall and published in the North Star of Jan. 7th, there is one that particularly attracts my attention: not only on account of its intrinsic importance, but also on account of a circumstance which occurred at the time. It appears as the first resolution which was offered for the opinion of that meeting, and is a follows:
Resolved, That in assembling on this day for the purpose of lifting up our voice in behalf of the oppressed and plundered fellow countrymen, we but follow in the footsteps of Him who has said, "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day."
That resolution appears to me important, because if the principle propounded in it be carried out, it opens up the whole question of slavery, as well as, I had almost said, the more important one of practical religion; tho' if both these questions be pursued to legitimate results, we shall find that they are only parts of the same subject. Living as we do, in the middle of the 19th century of the Christian era, it would appear at first sight almost preposterous to offer such a resolution, for the acceptance of so enlightened an audience.—But on the other hand, when we look around us, and perceive the superb and aristocratic establishments, called churches, with their stately architecture, their splendid ornaments and cushioned seats, denoting their relationship to the ritual ordinances of a former dispensation, we admit at once the appositeness of the resolution. The Great Master, at whose death the veil of the temple was rent, and who, as far as He was concerned, withdrew "the veil that was spread over all nations," sufficiently explained his mission, to leave no doubt upon the minds of the pure and simple-hearted, as to the true meaning and intents of His doctrine. But there was then, as now, another class of individuals who claimed to be preeminently the righteous; and although he sufficiently unmasked these hypocritical pretensions of superior purity, and denounced them in the plainest and strongest terms, we find at the present time the same love of outward show, the same attention to mere ceremony, the same "making clean of the outside of the cup and of the platter;" the same paying tithe of mint, and annise, and cummin; and of omitting the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; the same making of hypocritical long prayers and sad countenances, and of disfiguring of faces, "that they may appear unto men to fast," instead of the pure and noble ethics promulgated by Jesus Christ: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Although the Mosaic law contained the same sublime sentiment, it was necessarily in a more diffused form, and scattered among a variety of other precepts equally important at that period: "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor." "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man." "The stranger that dwelled with you shall be unto you as one born amongst you, had thou shalt love him as thyself." These precepts are only so many parts of the same principle of equity and love; but for the time being it was necessary that they should be enshrouded and interwoven with a variety of outward forms and ceremonies. This circumstance becomes self-evident when we take into consideration the ignorant and benighted condition of the surrounding nations; their superstitition; their idolatrous, lascivious, and cruel practices, and withal the general tendency of the unguided passions of man to induce him to gratify his sensuality and pride, made it necessary to observe strictly the outward forms and ceremonies of the law, until its inward principles were sufficiently engrafted upon the mind of man to prepare him for the more sublime doctrines of Jesus. It is not, under these circumstances, to be wondered at that the inherent ignorance and selfishness of our race, should induce the greatest portion of the Jews, as well as of other nations, to place their chief dependance for their acceptance with the Deity upon these outward forms and ceremonies. This was especially the case with the Pharisees at the advent of the Saviour. It appears that they wore garments of a peculiar shape, and bandages, with impressive mottoes, or sentences of scriptures written upon them: they were in the habit of ostentatiously giving alms to the poor, and making long prayers at the corners of the streets, "that they might be seen of men," and also of observing, very minutely every punctilio of the ritual law, as well as the traditions added to it by their over-zealous predecessors. And while they made this parade of the ceremonial and outward forms of religion, assuming that they were so much more righteous than others, they were guilty of the most grievous oppression and wickedness. We can hardly fail to recognize the wonderful resemblance in the position of the church of the present day to that we have described above. And when we look at the Great Harlot, and all her daughters, and remember that John told us that Anti-Christ was already in the world, we are impressed with the necessity of exposing this foul hypocrisy, this "gaping at a gnat and swallowing a came1." If Antichrist was then in the world was it not that dependence upon forms and ceremonies, instead of "the righteousness of the law?" that grasping at the shadow, and suffering the substance to escape, which St. Paul was continually combatting? (Rom. viii. 4: Gal. iii. 2: Col. ii. 17.) Suppose we admit, for argument's sake, the dogmas of the (so called) orthodox church there to be true; is there any man, at the present day, insane enough to believe that his attendance upon its outward ordinances, and his pretended belief in these dogmas will procure for him everlasting beatitude, when it shall please God to call him from this sphere of action? or is the church a ponderous political machine, got up, and kept up, for the purpose or covering up and concealing the blackest of crimes, under the specious mask of the religion on the meek and lowly Jesus.
I could almost wish to leave this question to be answered by those whom it most concerns; but actions speak louder than words. If we follow the course of this pretended church of Christ, from the age of the apostles downwards, we shall find its track so deeply marked in blood, that it has excited the deepest detestation to every liberal mind in every age. We have seen the superstition and persecutions of the Romish Church produce her own downfall, though yet she thinks she is no widow, by forcing half Europe into open infidelity and atheism. We have seen her oldest daughter, the Protestant Church of England, following so closely in her footsteps, until, according to statistical writers, three-fourths of her people are either citizens or dissenters, and many of her wealthiest citizens have been obliged to seek an asylum from her persecutions in this land of freedom (?) And what shall we say of this nondescript, many-headed monster, which has taken to itself the name of the Church of Christ in free America. Are the skirts of her garments free from blood? Let the present condition of the colored people in this country, and her silence, even in the northern states, upon the monstruous sin of slavery, answer; while in the southern states she is rhe open abettor of the crime: that crime which, as my friend Douglass truly said, included all others in the decalogue. Such gentlemen, are some of the circumstances which rendered the proposing of such a resolution necessary, as appears at the head of this communication, which, with your permission, I will take an opportunity to discuss in a future number.
RICHARD SULLEY.
SELECTIONS.
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
We most sincerely rejoice, as will every friend of God and liberty, and as would every fettered bondman in this slaveholding republic, could they hear the glad tidings, that health, through a bountiful providence has been restored to William Lloyd Garrison, and that he is again in the field, at the head of his storm--beaten sheet, the Liberator. Seventeen-years of cloudy days and dreary nights have rolled away, since all alone, with powerful hand and dauntless heart he launched his bark upon the menacing billows of our pro-slavery public opinion. Under his broad banner of immediate, unconditional and everlasting emancipation, many essayed to follow, but like a disciple of old, some, alas! too many, have found their fears greater than their faith, and they have sunk to rise no more. Of these however, we mean not to speak.
Garrison is again in the field, and in the thickest of the battle,
Under the sooty flag of Slavery."
May God grant him continued life and health, till he shall see the travail of his noble soul—"when the sighing of the poor, and the crying of the needy" shall have forever ceased throughout our slave cursed land!
We copy, with ineffable pleasure, his first words on resuming his editorial duties:
In resuming the editorial pen, after so long an absence from my post, my first duty is to express to my numerous friends, on both sides of the Atlantic, the deep gratitude of my heart for the lively solicitude which they manifested during my severe illness at the West, and the warm congratulations which they have since offered on my recovery. Such demonstrations of affection and confidence would more than counterbalance a century of abuse and persecution on the part of the enemies of God and man. The earnest hope that I might survive this powerful attack of disease has been based on the expectation, that if my life should be spared, I would consecrate it anew to the cause of suffering humanity—to the overthrow of all forms of despotism, whether spiritual or corporeal—to the promotion of peace and liberty throughout the world. That expectation I hope never to disappoint. It shall be to me a trumpet-call to the field of moral conflict, inspiriting me to higher and better efforts to promote the welfare of my race—to reunite forever the broken ties of human brotherhood. It is extremely painful to be impotent in such a field, or absent from it, even for an hour. How much remains to be done! How swarm the foes of liberty and equality! How numerous are their banners, how extended their ranks, how malevolent their purposes! Over what continent, kingdom, people or tribe, do they-not hold mastery? What vigilance and determination, what energy and enterprise, do they not exhibit! What resources, inventions, machinations, are theirs! They rule with a red of iron. Though they cause human blood to flow like water, it does not satiate their appetite; though they have obtained universal conquest, they sigh for another world to subjugate. But—as sure as light is more pleasant than darkness, and truth is stronger than falsehood—they are yet to be put to flight, and their reign of cruelty is to terminate. Their weapons are those of the coward, the suicide, the assassin: such cannot always prosper. Their courage is only beastly: it has no moral quality; and in conflict with spiritual heroism, it quickly becomes pusillanimous. Their power is only an aggregation of self-destructive materials, and constantly exposed to spontaneous combustion. One brave, disinterested, world-wide spirit, whose faith is an eternity of steadfastness, and whose love is God-inspired, can carry dismay through all their ranks. It is only for "the sacramental host of God's elect" to be up and doing, in a spirit worthy of their cause and profession, to usher in that glorious day when the great human family, now isolated and hostile,
"Like kindred drops, shall mingle into one."
Having been so long out of the conflict, some time must elapse before I can wear my armor easily, and vigorously wield the weapons of Reform. I still feel, both mentally and physically, the effects of my recent illness, and must proceed in my labors with much circumspection, lest by too great mental excitement, a relapse ensue, and my last condition be worse than the first. Asking the indulgence of all who feel an interest in the character of the Liberator, and who desire to see it kept "a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well," I shall aim to infuse into its columns noble thoughts, great sentiments, and glorious conceptions, such as the teeming mind of awakened Humanity may place within my reach.
From the Liberty Bell of 1848.
BIBLES FOR THE SLAVES.
by Frederick Douglass.
The above is a watchword of a recent but quite numerous class of persons, whose ostensible object seems to be, to give Bibles to the American Slaves. They propose to induce the public to give of their abundance, a large sum of money, to be placed in the hands of the American Bible Society, to be employed in purchasing Bibles and distributing them among the slaves. In this apparently benevolent and Chistian movement, they desire to unite all persons friendly to the long imbruted and long neglected slave. The religious press have already spoken out in its favor. So full of promise and popularity is this movement, that many of the leaders in church and State are pressing into it; churches which have all along slumbered unmoved over the cruel wrongs and bitter woes of the slave, which have been as deaf as death to every appeal of the fettered bondman for liberty, are at last startled from their heartless stupor by this new cry of Bibles for the Slaves. Ministers of religion and learned Doctors of Divinity, who would not lift a finger to give the stave to himself, are now engaged in the professed work of giving to the Slave the Bible. Into this enterprise have been drawn some who have been known as advocates for emancipation.
One Anti-Slavery Editor, has abandoned his position at the head of a widely circulating Journal, and has gone forth to lecture and solicit donations in its behalf. Even the American Bible Society, which a few years ago peremptorily refused to entertain the offensive subject, and refused the offer of ten thousand dollars, has at last relented if not repented, and now condescends to receive money for this object. To be sure we have had no public assurance of this from that society. It is, however, generally inferred by the friends of the movement, that they will consent to receive money for this purpose. Now what does all this mean? Are the men engaged in this movement sane? and if so, can they be honest? Do they seriously believe that the American slave can receive the Bible? Do they believe that the American Bible Society cares one straw about giving Bibles to the slave? Do they suppose that slaveholders in open violation of their wicked laws, will allow their slaves to have the Bible? How do they mean to get the Bible among the slaves? It cannot go itself—it must be carried. And who among them all, has either the faith or the folly to undertake the distribution of Bibles among the slaves?
Then again, of what value is the Bible to one who may not read its contents? Do they intend to send teachers into the slave States, with the Bibles, to teach the slaves to read them? Do they believe that on giving the Bible, the unlettered slave, will all at once, by some miraculous transformation, become a man of letters and be able to read the sacred Scriptures 7 Will they first obtain the slaveholders consent, or will they proceed without it? And if the former, by what means will they seek it? And if the latter, what success do they expect? Upon these points, and many others, the public ought to be enlightened, before they are called upon to give money and influence to such an enterprize.
As a mere indication of the growing influence of anti-slavery sentiment, this movement may be regarded by the Abolitionists with some complacency; but as a means of abolishing the slave system of America, it seems to me a sham, a delusion, and a snare, and cannot be too soon exposed before all the people. It is but another illustration of the folly of putting new cloth into an old garment, and new wine into old bottles.
The Bible is peculiarly the companion of liberty; it belongs to a new order of things: slavery is of the old; and will only be made worse by any attempt to mend it with the Bible. The Bible is only useful to those who can read and practise its contents. It was given to freemen, and any attempt to give it to the slave must result only in hollow mockery.
Give Bibles to the poor slaves! It sounds well; it looks well; it wears a religious aspect; it is a Protestant rebuke to the Pope, and seems in harmony with the purely evangelical character of the great American people. It may fortell some movement in England to give Bibles to our slaves—and this is very desirable. Now admitting (however difficult it may be to do so) the entire honesty of all engaged in this movement—the immediate and only effect of their effort must be to turn off attention from the main and momentous question connected with the slave, and absorb energies and money in giving to him the Bible, that ought to be used in giving him to himself.
The slave is property. He cannot hold property. He cannot own a Bible. To give him a Bible, is but to give his master a Bible. The slave is a thing—and it is the all-commanding duty of the American people to make him a man.
To demand this in the name of humanity, and of God, is the solemn duty of every living soul. To demand less than this, or anything else than this, is to deceive the fettered bondman, and to soothe the conscience of the slaveholder on the very point where he should be most stung with remorse and shame. A way with all tampering with such a question! Away with all trifling with the man in fetters! Give a hungry man a stone, and tell him what beautiful houses are made of it; give ice to a freezing man, and tell him of its good properties in hot weather; throw a drowning man a dollar, as a mark of your good will; but do not mock the bondman in his misery, by giving him a Bible, when he cannot read it!
Rochester, New York.
From the Liberator.
REVEREND RASCALITY.
All abolitionists who are old enough to remember the early days of the cause, recollect the Rev. Ezra Styles Ely, D.D., and his man Ambrose. If their memory extend a little farther back, and they had the good luck to have been brought up in an 'evangelical' school, (a training very necessary to the understanding of the ins and outs of the anti-slavery cause, especially about the days of the new organization,) they know that the said Doctor was a burning and a shining light, set in a golden candlestick of the church, a great revivalist and saver of souls by the wholesale. We remember that at Andover, where, after the most straitest sect of our religion we were brought up, it used to be said of him that he was in the habit of swearing, (whether in the pulpit or not we cannot say,) and justified himself by the example of Whitfield. However, we were then, and have been since, as long as we were addicted to the vice of going to meeting, in the habit of hearing so much more profane language in the meeting-house than in the street, that we think none the worse of him for that. Had he clothed himself in no worse garments than curses, it would have been the better for him, as well as for poor Ambrose and the orphan daughter of his friend, as shall he presently related.
The Doctor, among other eminent gifts and graces, possessed in a high degree one of the choicest elements of modern saintship,—to wit, he was, or was reputed to be, very rich. For, luckily, it is not in these days, as it was in the semi-barbarous ones, when it was said, that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Indeed, the turnpikes and travelling expenses along the strait and narrow rood are so much greater now than they were then, that none but a tolerably warm man has much chance of getting there at all. But rich as he was, the Doctor had the humility to think that this was one of the graces of his Christian character, which might be increased to advantage, and so he plunged into the speculations of our South Sea days, in 1835–6. At that time Providence had cast his lot, (we believe we speak the language correctly,) for some wise purpose, in one of the slave States,—Tennessee, we believe. It did seem, at one time, as if the object Providence had in view, in this dispensation, was, to show that slaves could be held for their own good. For then it was that Dr. Ely bought his slave Ambrose, from pure motives of humanity, and to prevent him from falling into worse hands. The praise of the Doctor was in all the churches: for at that time the laboring point with the pro-slavery piety of the land was, to show that slaveholding was not sinful, because slaves might be held "for their own good." And here was a case in point. Happy Dr. Ely, who was raised up to settle this nice point in theology forever! Happier Ambrose, who was the chosen vessel of this great salvation!
But, unluckily for the peace of our pro-slavery Zion, the bubble burst, and the speculators found themselves in the suds. It broke, after leading the whole people a weary way, as it danced with its rainbow hues before them leaving nothing but the empty breath and foul water, of which it was composed. All King Biddle's puffing only increased its tenuity with its size, and made its bursting the worse, if not the sooner. It was in vain that he saw, "in clear dream and solemn vision," the Presidential chair before him, with a ladder of cotton bags leading up thereunto, and he himself placed therein as the saviour of the south, and so of the country. It was a lie and a delusion all. Ruin spread over the south as well as over the north, and the United States Bank broke like a rotten stick (as it was) when interposed to check its progress. Among the rest, Dr. Ely became bankrupt, in company with many better men, and perhaps, with some no worse than himself. His lands, hereditaments and personality, were dispersed under the hammer. Among his other chattels personal, household stuff, mules, asses, and farming utensils, poor Ambrose was sold to the highest bidder, and was despatched to be grown into cotton or ground into sugar, in Alabama, Louisiana, or the Lord knows where. And thus this beautiful demonstration of the curious problem of the holding of slaves for their own good was broken off in the middle! Truly, mysterious are the ways of Providence!
But it has lately evolved how it was that he got the means for carrying on these speculations. It appears, from a report of a decision in the Court of Common Pleas, in Philadelphia, that in 1822 Dr. Ely was made trustee under the will of Samuel Carswell, of an estate consisting of three hundred shares in the United States Bank, worth about $40,800. After a few months he transferred all this property from himself as trustee to himself individually. In 1835, he borrowed $50,000 on his own private account, of the Bank of the United States, pledging these three hundred shares, standing in his own name, but rightfully belonging to Miss Carswell, (of whom he was the guardian, as well as the trustee,) as collateral security. At the maturity of his indebtedness, in 1837, not being able to meet it, two hundred and fifty of the three hundred shares were sold to cover it. In 1843, Miss Carswell married, and her reverend guardian was called upon to render an account of his stewardship; whereupon, he proposes to pass over to her, for her property which had been sold, two hundred and fifty shares of the United States Bank, then worth about six dollars a share; they having been worth about $l30 a share when he hypothecated them. In other words, he offered to give his ward about $1500 for property for which he had himself received about $32,500. This modest proposal being declined, and the matter coming before the Orphan's court, a decree was entered against Dr. Ely for about $50,000, upon which he applies to the Common Pleas for the benefit of the Insolvent law. The fact of the embezzlement was not denied, but it was contended that it having been committed before the law, excepting such malefactors from the benefit of the Insolvent act, and subjecting them to condign punishment, was passed, he was not affected by it,—and, further, that a trustee is not a 'bailee, agent, or depositary,' mentioned in the act. The Court decided in the Doctor's favor, on the first ground. So that he is now white-washed, (a "whited sepulchre," we fear he always was,) and is in a condition to take charge of anybody else's money, that may be fool enough to trust him.
Now we are a little curious to know how this development will affect the standing of this holy man in the church. We should like to know, for instance if this reverend rascal, this solemn swindler, should come to Boston, as a minister of the gospel, whether there would be a single orthodox congregation or other evangelical pulpit closed against him on account of its dishonesty. We do not think that there would be. We are sure that there ought not to be; for we know that there is not one (at least of consequence enough to be seen,) that would shut its pulpit doors against him because he cheated poor Ambrose out of his body and soul, or if he had done it to five hundred like him. It was a serious thing, no doubt, to Dr. Ely's ward to find her portion devoured up by a dishonest guardian; but it was a much more serious thing to his slave to be himself devoured up bodily. But if the one should excite a transient feeling in the American church universal, the other will scarcely stir a holy muscle. There are hundreds and thousands of ministers who are continually guilty of greater and worst dishonesty than Dr. Ely in this instance, who are still welcome in all northern pulpits, and predominate in all national sectarian conventions, assemblies, and conferences;—worse and greater dishonesty, because they rob their victims not only of all that they possess or can acquire, but of themselves; and strip them of all hope, of all resistance, of all redress. We will not, then, be too severe on the Boston ministers, if, in the total confusion and dissolution of common morality which Slavery has produced, they should give to Dr. Ely, who comes to them, smacking his lips over the portion of the orphan committed to him, the same right hand of fellowship that they extend to the Reverend cannibals gorged with human flesh,—fed fat with "slaves and souls of men."—q.
From Parker's Letter on Slavery.
STATISTICS AND HISTORY OF SLAVERY.
I will first call year attention to the history and statistics of slavery. Is 1790, there were but 697,897 slaves in the Union; in 1840, 2,487,355. At the present day, their number probably is not far from 3,000,000. In 1790, Mr. Gerry estimated their value at $10,000,000; in 1840, Mr. Clay fixed it at $1,200,000,000. They are owned by a population of perhaps about 300,000 persons, and represented by about 100,000 voters.
At the time of the Declaration of Independence, slavery existed in all the States; it gradually receded from the North. In the religious colonies of New England it was always unpopular and odious. It was there seen and felt to be utterly inconsistent with the ideas and spirit of their institutions, their churches, and their state itself. After the revolution, therefore, it speedily disappeared; here perishing by default, there abolished by statute. Thus it successively disappeared from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. By the celebrated ordinance of 1787, involuntary servitude, except as a punishment, after legal conviction of crime, was forever prohibited in the Northwest Territory. Thus the new states, formed in the western parallels, were, by the action of the federal government, at once cut off from that institution. Besides, they were mainly settled by men from the Eastern States, who had neither habits nor principles which favored slavery. Thus Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa have been without any legal slaves from the beginning.
In the South, the character of the people was different; their manners, their social and political ideas, were unlike those of the North. The Southern States were mainly colonies of adventurers, rather than establishments of men who for conscience sake fled to the wilderness. Less pains were taken with the education—intellectual, moral and religious—of the people. Religion never held so prominent a place in the consciousness of the mass as in the sterner and more austere colonies of the North. In the Southern States—New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia—slavery easily found a footing at an early day. It was not at all repulsive to the ideas, the institutions and habits of Georgia and South Carolina. The other Southern States protested against it; they never.
Consequences follow causes; it is not easy to avoid the results of a first principle. The Northern States, in all their constitutions and social structures, consistently and continually tend to democracy—the government of all, for all, and by all; to equality before the state and its laws; to moral and political ideas of universal application. In the meantime, the Southern States, in their constitutions and social structure, as consistently tend to oligarchy—the government over all, by a few, and for the sake of that few; to privilege, favoritism and class legislation; to conventional limitations; to the rule of force, and inequality before the law. In such a state of things, when slavery comes, it is welcome, In 1787, South Carolina and Georgia refused to accept the federal constitution, unless the right of importing slaves was guaranteed to them for twenty years. The new states formed in the southern parallels—Kentucky Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi—retaining the ideas and habits of their parents, kept also the institution of slavery.
At the time of forming the Federal Constitution, some of the Southern statesmen were hostile to slavery, and would gladly have got rid of it. Economical considerations prevailed in part, but political and moral objections to it extended yet more widely. The ordinance of 1787, the work mainly of the same man who drafted the Declaration of Independence, passed with little opposition. The proviso for surrendering fugitive slaves came from a Northern hand. Subsequently, opposition to slavery in the North and the South, became less. The culture of cotton, the wars in Europe creating a demand for the productions of American agriculture, had rendered slave labor more valuable. The day of our own oppression was more distant and forgotten. So in 1802, when Congress purchased from Georgia the western part of her territory, it was easy for the South to extend slavery over that virgin soil. In 1803, Louisiana was purchased from France; then, or in 1804, when it was organized into two Territories, it would have been easy to apply the ordinance of 1787, and prevent slavery from extending beyond the original thirteen States. But though some provisions restricting slavery were made, the ideas of that ordinance were forgotten. Since that time, five new States have been formed out of territory acquired since the revolution: Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, all slave States—the last two with Constitutions aiming to make slavery perpetual. The last of these was added to the Union on the 22d of December, 1845, two hundred and twenty-five years after the day when the Forefathers first set foot on Plymouth Rock; while the sons of the Pilgrims were eating and drinking and making merry, the deed of annexation was completed, and slavery extended over nearly 400,000 square miles of new territory, whence the semi-barbarous Mexicans had driven it out.
Slavery might easily have been abolished at the time of the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, in 1774, the Continental Congress, in their celebrated "non-importation agreement," resolved never to import or purchase any slaves after the last of December, in that year. In 1775, they declare in a "report" that it is not possible "for men who exercise thelf reason to believe that the Divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in an unbounded power over others." Indeed, the Declaration itself is a denial of the national right to allow the existence of slavery: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are [the right to] life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
But the original draft of this paper combined a condemnation yet more explicit: "He [the King of England] has waged cruel war against human nature itself: violating most sacred rights of life and liberty is the persons of a distant people who never offended him; captivating and carrying them into slavery. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce." This clause, says its author himself, "was struck out in compliance to South Carolina and Georgia, who never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under these censures; for though their people have very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others."
These were not the sentiment of a single enthusiastic young Republican. Dr. Rush, in the Continental Congress, wished "the Colonies to discourage slavery, and encourage the increase of the free inhabitants." Another member of the American Congress declared, in 1779, "Men are by nature free;" "the right to be free can never be alienated." In 1776, Dr. Hopkins, the head of the New England divines, declared that "Slavery is, in every instance, wrong, unrighteous, and oppressive; a very great and crying sin."
In the articles of Confederation, adopted in 1778, no provision is made for the support of slavery; none for the delivery of fugitives. Slavery is not once referred to in that document. The General Government had nothing to do with it. "If any slave elopes to those States where slaves are free," said Mr. Madison in 1787, "he becomes emancipated by their laws."
[to be continued.]
MISCELLANEOUS.
An Indian a Free Person of Color.—It has been decided in one of the Courts of Charleston, that a person of free Indian descent, unmixed with negro blood, is a free person of color, and therefore an incompetent witness. This decision is in opposition to the practice which has hitherto obtained in the courts of South Carolina; free Indians and the descendants of free Indians, in amity with the State, having been always regarded as competent witnesses of the superior courts.
Mineral Discovery.—An extraordinary mineral, pronounced by geologists to be pure tripoli, has been discovered in this country, and is now being manufactured by a company formed for that purpose. For cleaning the surface of glass, or removing the oxide from metals, it is certainly without an equal. Windows can be cleansed with this article with one half the labor that is required with water, and the work is done much more effectually.
Chinese Physician.—The Spanish government have recently imported into Havanna some 500 expatriated Chinese, to work as negroes. Among them is a physician who judges of disease solely by the pulse. Such is said to be the practice of the family in the "central flowery land," they feeling the pulse in the temporal artery, in the wrist and ankle The governor of Cuba gave him a license to practice, and he has been doing an immense business. Every one pays $2 who even enters his house, and on some days he takes nearly $200.
Afraid to Learn.—It is related that Galileo, who invented the telescope with which he observed he satellites of Jupiter, invited a man who was opposed to him to look through it, that he might observe Jupiter's moons. The man positively refused, saying, "If I should see them, how could I maintain my opinions which I have advanced against your philosophy?"
This is the case with many; they will no hear truth, for fear that the arguments which they have framed will be destroyed, and they may be obliged to give up their vicious indulgences.
A Word.—Say not a word you had better leave unsaid. A word is a little thing, we know, but it has stirred up a world of strife, Suppressing a word has saved many a character—many a life. A word unuttered, and Hamilton would have lived the pride of his country. Who can tell the good or bad effects of a single word? Be careful what you say. Think before you speak, and you will never be mortified with yourself, or cause a thrill of pain to flash through the heart of a friend.—Albany Knickerbocker.
Negro Ambassadors at the Court of France.—Messrs. Ardonia and Delva, men of color, presented to Louis Philippe, the the King of the French, on the 19th October letters accrediting them as envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary of the republic of Hayti to France, for the exchange of ratification of the convention of 15th May last.
Post and Willis, Dealers in Drugs, Medicines, Chemicals, Dye Stuffs, Paints, Varnish, Oils, Glassware, Brushes, Perfumery, Daguerreotype, Stock, French and German Chemicals, Artists' Colors, Brushes and Canvass, Etherial Oil, Gold Leaf and Foil, &c. &c.
Being Agents for most of the celebrated Family and valuable Patent Medicines, and receiving the same directly from the Manufacturers or their Agents, they are enabled to supply all orders at wholesale and retail, on the most favorable terms.
Homœopathic Books, Medicines, and Family Cases, with full directions. Only agents for Western New York.
Also, Sherwood's Vibratory Magnetic Machines, with directions.
Phosgene Gas; also Etherial Oil and Lamps, for burning the same. Those who would consult economy and convenience are invited to examine these Lamps. The attention of Country Merchants, Physicians, Families, and others, wishing goods in the above line, is requested at the APOTHECARIES' HALL, 4, Exchange Street.
UNIVERSE COOKING STOVES.
The Subscribers are manufacturing this invaluable Cooking Stove, designed for Coal or Wood, warranted to excel any other stove ever invented, and constructed strictly upon philosophical principles. The Oven heated by hot air, (the only hot air oven ever patented,) and warranted to bake as well as any brick oven. For sale only by the undersigned, wholesale and retail, 34, Exchange Street. H. BUSH & CO.
OWEN MORRIS' CITY BINDERY,
under the Museum—late Fisher & Morris.
Mr. Morris was in the employ of Mr. Marcus Morse for seven years, and during that time procured for him three Silver Medals, for the best specimens of Book Binding, exhibited at Mechanics' Fairs held in this city and Buffalo.
Gentlemen's Libraries fitted up and repaired; Music Paper ruled; Music and Periodicals bound and finished to any pattern. Blank Account Books executed at this establishment have given unequalled satisfaction, by their durability and elegance. Strict attention is always paid to the quality of paper used, to render them equal to the best of the United States or those imported.
Ladies' Scrap and Guard Books, Albums and Portfolios, in all their varieties, manufactured to order in the best style.
Banks, Institutions, Societies, &c., may be assured of work being done on the most advantageous terms.
Gentlemen residing at a distance, by packing and forwarding volumes to the above directives, stating price and style, may rely upon their being well bound on the most favorable terms, also carefully and punctually returned.
N.B. The proprietor has spared no expense to fitting up the establishment, and introducing into Western New York the latest improvements in Book Binding.
OWEN MORRIS,
City Bindery, under the Museum.
BOSTON ADVERTISEMENTS.
CLARKSON,
LONDON EDITION—WITH PORTRAIT.
A few copies of CLARKSON'S HISTORY OF THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE, with prefatory remarks on the subsequent abolition of Slavery; a beautiful London edition, with a fine Portrait of the Author, done on steel,—a book which could not be imported for less than three dollars, can be had at 21, Cornhill, if applied for immediately, at the very low price of One Dollar, cash. Also, EULOGIUM ON CLARKSON, by Alexander Crummell, at the reduced price of twelve and a half cents.
RObert Morris, Jr., Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Brazer's Building, State Street.
Joseph H. Turpin would invite the attention of his friends and the public to his DAGUERRIAN GALLERY, No. 138, Hanover Street, where he pledges himself to execute Miniatures with a lifelike finish, and on as moderate terms as any others in the profession.
Macon B. Allen, Attorney and Counsellor at at Law, Massachusetts Block.
BOYS' CLOTHING.
Samuel Wilson, 14, Brattle Street, having made recent additions to his stock, is prepared to furnish Boys' Clothing, of as material and fit, and at as cheap prices, as can be obtained in the city.
NEW ENGLAND SECOND HAND CLOTHING STORE,
No. 56, Union Street, Boston.
John Wright keeps constantly on hand a great variety of New and Second Hand Clothing. Goods of all kinds, such as old clothes, W. I. goods, Watches, Boots and Shoes, &c., exchanged for new clothing. Cash advanced on all kinds of goods, from one to one hundred dollars.
John D. Revaleon, Hair Cutting Saloon, and Perfumery Emporium, 114, Blackstone-st.
NEW YORK ADVERTISEMENTS
DR. J. M'Cune Smith, 93, West Broadway.
T. Jinnings, Surgeon-Dentist, 185, North Broadway.
Philip A. White, Druggist, corner of Frankfort and Gold Street.
William S. Powell, Sailor's Home, 61, Cherry Street.
Willlam rich, Hair Dressing and Bathing Saloon, Troy House, Troy, New York.
NORTHAMPTON WATER CURE.
The undersigned, gratefully appreciating the credit generously awarded by a discerning public to his success as a Hydropathic Practitioner, would respectfully inform the friends of Hydropathy, that his establishment is pleasantly situated near Bensonville, on the west bank of the Licking Water, or Mill River, about two and a half miles from the centre of the town. It is thirty-six by seventy first; three stories high, with a piazza on the south side. There are separate parlors, bathing and dressing rooms, for ladies and gentlemen. There are also twenty lodging rooms, each of which is well ventilated and conveniently furnished for the accommodation of two persons. Among the variety of baths in the establishment are, the plunge, douche, drencher, and spray baths. The ladies' plunge is six by ten feet, three and a half deep; the gentlemen's, eight by twelve, three and a half deep. There are also two cold douches, one of which is situated a mile, and the other half a mile from the establishment. The former has a fall of twenty-two feet, the latter eighteen. The scenery in this vicinity is picturesque and romantic. There are a variety of pleasant walks passing near and to springs of pure water. The walks are sufficiently retired to allow water-cure patients to appear as they should, plainly dressed, enjoying their rambles, without being exposed to public gaze or observation. Since daily experience, for the last three years, has strengthened his opinion, that the condition of the skin clearly indicates the character of many diseases, and the ability of inability of an invalid to bear the water treatment in its various forms; also the necessity of applying the dry woollen blanket, or the wet sheet, to promote evaporation or a sweat, when either may be necessary; and from results which have attended his application of the treatment, he hesitates not to say, that the electric symptom of the skin indicates vitality or power, and that an invalid, whose skin is not attended with this symptom, cannot be safely or successfully treated with water. Among the complaints which are here successfully treated, are pulmonary affection, liver complaints, jaundice, acute or chronic inflammation of the bowels, piles, dyspepsia, general debility, nervous and spinal affections, inflammatory or chronic rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica, lame limbs, paralysis, fevers, salt rheum, scrofulous and erysipelas humors.
All patients who visit this establishment for a course of treatment, should furnish themselves with three comfortables, three woollen blankets, one linen and three cotton sheets, two pillow cases, six crash towels, some well worn linen, to cut for fomentations, an old cloak or mantle, and a syringe.[1]
Terms for treatment and board are $5 50 per week, for those who occupy rooms on the third floor; on the first and second floors, $6 00 per week, payable weekly; washing extra. A patient, who, from choice or necessity, occupies a room alone, on the third floor, will pay $8 00 per week; on the first and second floors, $8 50 per week. Invalids who are so feeble as to need extra attention and fire in their rooms, (except for swathing purposes,) will procure their own nurses and fuel, or pay an extra price.
Northampton, Aug. 1847.
N.B. The afflicted, desirous of being examined in regard to their complaints, and of ascertaining the adaptedness of the water-cure in their particular case, should call on Tuesdays and Fridays.
- ↑ This instrument may be obtained at the establishment.
William B. Logan, Dealer in Fashionable Boots and Shoes, 80, Purchase Street, New Bedford.
W. B. L. keeps constantly on hand a good assortment, and will sell cheap for cash. Strict attention paid to custom-made work, by Messrs. Parker and Davis.
Washington's Daguerrian Gallery, 138, Main Street, Kellog's Buildings, Harford, Connecticut.
THE NATIONAL ERA: Washington City, District of Columbia. G. Bailey, Editor; John G. Whittier, Corresponding Editor. L. P. Noble, Publisher.
The leading purpose of this journal is, the discussion of the question of Slavery, and the advocacy of the main principles of the Liberty Party. Due attention is given to Social and Political questions of general importance; nor are the interests of a pure Literature overlooked.
It aims to preserve a faithful record of important events; of inventions or discoveries affecting the progress of society; of public documents of permanent value; and, during the sessions of Congress, to present such reports of its proceedings, as will convey a correct idea not only of its action, but of its spirit and policy. The debates on the exciting subjects of Slavery and the Mexican War, expected to arise in the next Congress, will occupy a large share of its columns.
Arrangements have been made for extending and enriching its already valuable department of home and foreign correspondence.
It is printed on a mammoth sheet, of the finest quality, in the best style, at $2 a year, payable in advance.
The generous spirit in which the Era has been welcomed by the public press, and the very liberal patronage it has received during this, the first year of its existence, encourages us to hope for large accessions to our subscription list.
It is desirable that subscriptions be forwarded without delay, so that they may be entered before the approaching Congress.
All communications addressed to
L. P. NOBLE,
THE DAILY AND WEEKLY CHRONOTYPE. Edited by Elizur Wright. Published by White, Potter & Wright, 15, State Street, Boston. Terms: Daily, ONE CENT, each number. For ant sum forwarded to the publishers free of expense, they will send the paper at that rate till the money is exhausted. Weekly, Two Dollars a year in advance, or for any shorter time at the same rate. For five dollars, three copies will be sent for one year.
This publication is made in the finest style of newspaper typography. It is independent of all sects, parties, and cliques, expressing freely the views of the editor and of such correspondents as he thinks proper to admit, on all subjects of human interests.
It advocates equally of human rights, and the abolition of slavery, thorough land reform, cheap postage, abstinence for intoxicating drinks, exemption of temperance men from taxes to repair the damages of drinking, a reform in writing and spelling the English language, the abolition of capital punishment, universal and kindly toleration in religion, life and health insurance, water-cure, working men's protective unions, and all other practical forms of associations for mutual aid—and generally, Progress.
It also gives the news from all parts of the country in the most condensed and intelligible style.
Its Exchange List is already very large—so large that it will be increased only on condition that the paper requesting the exchange will keep the above Prospectus standing in its columns.
Any country paper which will keep the above in its columns, and furnish us with the most important news of its vicinity, by slip or otherwise, in advance of its regular publication, shall be supplied with the Daily Chronotype, in exchange for its weekly, and have our best thanks and due credit to boot.
Boston, Sept. 2, 1847.
THE DELAWARE ABOLITIONIST.
A paper of the above name will be published in Wilmington, by the Delaware Anti-Slavery Society. It will be edited by a Committee, and will be published on a half medium sheet, at twenty-five cents per year, or for twenty-four numbers. It will be devoted to emancipation in Delaware, and will advocate its accomplishment by all lawful means. It will be published semi-monthly, if means are afforded, or as often as the means can be obtained.
JAMES K. BROOKE,
POETRY.
TO THE NORTH STAR, AND ITS DISTINGUISHED EDITOR.
by a Trans-Atlantic Friend.
We watch for thy dawning, with joy, from afar;
With kindling emotion we hail thy first ray:
'Twill illumine our darkness, and guide us till day.
In which millions are groping in chains, without light,
Thou, bright star of beauty and hope, shalt arise,
Dispelling this midnight gloom, cheering all eyes.
Is checked by no danger, is stayed by no fear,
Though mighty thy foes are, and urgent thy need,
We charge thee, look upward! we bid thee Godspeed!
Unfurl Freedom's flag; blot out Tyranny's laws;
"God and the right!" be thy constant war-cry,
Till Oppression's hold ceases, and Slavery die.
Sound ye victory's trumpet, from cast unto west!
To the north say, "Give up;" "Keep not back," to thy south—
Jehovah hath said—Hear the words of his mouth.
For the North Star.
BADINAGE.
"Stand by the right!"
Echoes the West,
"With all our might!"
Starts up the South,
"Then will we fight!
But for the chains,
Hot blood shall lave,
Our chivalric plains,
But slavery we'll have,
There's for your pains."
"Where is your wit?
E'er you cry cry, Fight,
See where 'twill hit,—
Sometimes, in his fright,
The biter gets bit!"
North, West, and the world!
In our red stramps we'll lie,
With our banner unfurled,
While on mountain-top high,
Shall our smoke wreath be curled."
December, 1847.
From the Clarion of Freedom.
A PARODY.
by a Lady of New-Concord.
My toils surely none will dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,
I'm degraded from man to a brute.
Am I out of humanity's reach?
Must I finish my journey a slave?
And ne'er hear the sweet music of speech,
But start at the sound of a knave?
That nabobs have seen in thy face?
Better bie from foul slavery's arms,
Than live in their shameful disgrace.
The beasts of the forest are free;
The fowls of the air have their rest;
But the black man, degraded is he,—
He's starved and most cruelly press'd.
Divinely bestowed upon men:
Liberty! gift from above,
How glad would the slave taste again!
His sorrows he then might assuage,
In pursuit of his pleasure and taste,—
Might learn from the wisdom of age,
And be free from the nabob's disgrace.
Is made of that most sacred word?
The black man is whipped to a gore,
While the pulpit resounds with "O Lord!"
And is it the tyrant that cries,
And calls on the name of our God?
Oh, yes; and behold with surprise,
The next moment his slave feels the rod.
Convey to this desolate heart
The wife of the down-trodden slave:
Ye tyrants, you forced us apart!
My daughters, I now of you crave;
The sons that were pride of my heart
Are suffering the toils of the slave—
Your tyranny forced us apart.
He whips me and scourges me still;
My labor he daily doth steal,
And sells me, his coffers to fill.
When I think of his pride and his pelf,
His cruel oppression and scorn,
I weep, and I say to myself,
I wish I had never been born!
I labor and toil for him still:
Alas! for the slave there's no rest—
The tyrant oppresses him still!
I know there's a calm resting-place—
It in the confines of the grave.
I pity the white man's disgrace;
Oh, Father, protect me, a slave!
From the Pensylvania Freeman.
SONG OF THE DYING SLAVE-GIRL.
Air—"Mary in Heaven."
But tenderest words thou gave to me;
I knew that others' love was false,
But never once I doubted thee.
All silently, like sweetest dreams,
Thy love upon mv spirit stole,
And rainbow hues and starry gleams
Were blent and woven round my soul.
But joyous in his halls I grew,
And bond or free was nought to me,
For thou wast near, and seemed so true.
By orange grove and murmuring stream
Thy low deep tones 'twas bliss to hear,
And music, more divinely sweet,
Has never fallen on mine ear.
Upon that dark despairing day.
When thou beheld me shrieking sold,
And cold and silent turned away!
I would have borne a thousand woes,
To turn one ill aside from thee,
And death's chill pangs had all been sweet,
If thou in love didst look on me.
With burning brain alone I weep,
The cold stars mock me from their heights,
And colder dreams disturb my sleep.
Deserted, sold, cast off by thee.
My hour of rest I know is nigh;
My heart is broken, but its prayer
Is raised for thee e'en while I die!—S.
A PRETTY THOUGHT.
The winter of the spring,
And ever upon old Decay,
The greenest mosses cling.
Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
Through showers the sunbeams fall;
For God, who loveth all his works,
Has left his hopes will all.
THE COLORED CONVENTION.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON A NATIONAL PRESS.
The Committee on a "National press and printing establishment for the people of color," made the following report on the importance and practicability of such an undertaking:
"It being admitted that the colored people of the United States are pledged, before the world and in the face of heaven, to struggle manfully for advancement in civil and social life, it is clear that our own efforts must mainly, if not entirely, produce such advancement. And if we are to advance by our own efforts, (under the divine blessing,) we must use the means which will direct such efforts to a successful issue.
"Of the means for the advancement of a people placed as we are, none are more available than a press. We struggle against opinions. Our warfare lies in the field of thought. Glorious struggle! Godlike warfare! In training our soldiers for the field, in marshalling our hosts for the fight, in leading the onset, and through the conflict, we need a printing press, because a printing press is a vehicle of thought—is a ruler of opinions.
Among ourselves we need a press that shall keep us steadily alive to our responsibilities, which shall constantly point out the principles which should guide our conduct and our labors, which shall cheer us from one end of the land to the other, by recording our acts, our sufferings, our temporary defeats, and our steadily approaching triumph, or rather the triumph of the glorious truth "Human Equality," whose servants and soldiers we are.
"If a press be not the most powerful means for our elevation, it is the most immediately necessary. Education of the intellect, of the will, and of character, is, doubtless, a powerful—perhaps the most powerful means for our advancement; yet a press is needed to keep this very fact before the whole people, in order that all may constantly and unitedly labor in this, the right direction. It may be, that some other means might seem even more effectual than education; even then a press will be the more necessary, inasmuch as it will afford a field in which the relative importance of the various means may be discussed and settled in the hearing of the whole people, and to the profit of all.
"The first step which will mark our certain advancement as a people, will be our Declaration of Independence from all aid except from God and our own souls. This step can only be taken when the minds of our people are thoroughly convinced of its necessity and importance. And such conviction can only be produced through a press, which shall show that although we have labored long and earnestly, we have labored in too many directions and with too little concert of action; and that we must, as one man bend our efforts in the one right direction in order to advance.
"We need a press also as our banner on the outer wall, that all who pass by may read why we struggle, and what we struggle for. If we convince the world that we are earnestly and resolutely striving for our own advancement, one half the battle will already be won, because well and rightly begun. Our friends will the more willingly help us; our foes will quail because they have lost their best allies—our own inertness, carelessness, strifes, and dependence upon others. And there is no way, except through a press—a national press—that we can tell the world of our position in the path of human progress.
"Let there be, then, in these United States, a printing press, a copious supply of type, a full and complete establishment, wholly controlled by colored men; let the thinking writing man, the compositors, pressmen, printers' help—all, all, be men of color; then let there come from said establishment a weekly periodical and a quarterly periodical, edited as well as printed by colored men; let this establishment be so well endowed as to be beyond the chances of temporary patronage; and then there will be a fixed fact, a rallying point, towards which the strong and the weak amongst us would look with confidence and hope from which would flow a steady stream of comfort and exhortation to the wear strugglers, and of burning rebuke and overwhelming argument upon those who dare impede our way.
"The time was when a great statesman exclaimed, 'Give me the song-making of a people, and I will rule that people.' That time has passed away from our land, wherein the reason of the people must be assaulted and overcome. This can only be done through the press. We have felt, and bitterly, the weight of odium and malignity wrought upon us by one or two prominent presses in this land; we have felt also the favorable feeling wrought in our behalf by the anti-slavery press. But the amount of the hatred against us has been conventional antipathy; and of the favorable feeling, has been human sympathy. Our friends sorrow with us, because, they say, we are unfortunate! We must batter down those antipathies; we must command something manlier than sympathies. We must command the respect and admiration due men, who against fearful odds, are struggling steadfastly for their rights. This can only be done through a press of our own. It is needless to support these views with a glance at what the press has done for the down-trodden among men; let us rather look forward with the determination of accomplishing through this engine, an achievement more glorious than any yet accomplished. We lead the forlorn hope of human equality; let us tell of its onslaught on the battlements of hate and caste; let us record its triumph in a press of our own.
In making these remarks, your Committee do not forget or underrate the good service done by the newspapers, which have been, or are now, edited and published by our colored brethren. We are deeply alive to the talent, the energy, and perseverance, which these papers manifest on the part of their self sacrificing conductors; and as the proprietors are poor, their papers have been jeoparded or slopped for the want of capital. The history of our newspapers is the strongest argument in favor of the establishment of a press. These papers abundantly prove, that we have all the talent and industry requisite to conduct a paper such as we need; and they prove also, that among 500,000 free people of color, no one man is yet set apart with a competence for the purpose of advocating with the pen our cause and the cause of our brethren in chains. It is an imposition upon the noble-minded colored editors; it is a libel upon us, as a free and thinking people, that we have hitherto made no effort to establish a press on a foundation so broad and national that it may support one literary man of color and an office of colored compositors.
The importance and necessity of a National Press, your Committee trust, are abundantly manifest.
The following plan, adopted by the Committee of seven, appointed by the Convention with full power, is in the place of the propositions proposed by the Committee of three:
1st. There shall be an Executive of eleven persons, to be denominated, The Executive Committee on the National Press for the Free Colored People of the United States, viz:
2d. Massachusetts—Leonard Collins, James Mars; Connecticut—Amos G. Beman, James W. C. Pennington; Kentucky—Andrew Jackson; New York—J. McCune Smith, Chas. B. Ray, Alex. Crummell; New Jersey—E. P. Rogers; Pennsylvania—Andrew Purnell, George B. Vachon; of which Committee James McCune Smith, of New York, shall be Chairman, and Amos G. Beman, of Connecticut, Secretary.
3d. The members of this Committee residing in the city of New York, shall be a Financial Committee, who shall deposit, in trust for the Executive Committee, in the "New York Seaman's Bank for Savings," all the funds received by them from the Agents.
4th. No disposition shall be nude of the funds by any less than a two-thirds majority of the whole Committee.
5th. The Committee shall hold stated meetings once in six months, and shall then publish an account of their proceedings, the receipts, and from whom all sums are sent to them by the Agents.
6th. The Rev. J. W. C. Pennington, of Connecticut, shall be the Foreign Agent of the National Press; and the Agents shall always be ex-officio members of the Committee.
7th. The remuneration of the Home agent shall be twenty per cent.; of the Foreign agent thirty per cent., on collections made.
8th. The meetings of the Committee shall take place in the city of New York.
9th. The Agents shall report and remit to the Committee, at least once a month for the Home, and once in two months for the Foreign agent.
10th. Members of the Committee, from any two States, may call an extra meeting thereof by giving the chairman and secretary thirty days' notice.
Respectfully submitted,
J. McCUNE SMITH,
G. B. WILSON,
WM. H. TOPP.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ABOLITION.
The committee appointed to draft a report respecting the best means of abolishing slavery and destroying caste in the United States, beg leave most respectfully to report: That they have had the important subjects referred to them under consideration, and have carefully endeavored to examine all their points and bearings to the best of their ability; and from every view they have been able to take, they have arrived at the conclusion that the best means of abolishing slavery is the proclamation of truth, and that the best means of destroying caste, is the mental, moral and industrial improvement of our people.
First, as respects slavery: Your committee find this monstrous crime, this stupendous iniquity, closely interwoven with all the great interests, institutions and organizations of the country; pervading and influencing every class and grade of society, securing their support, obtaining their approbation, and commanding their homage. Availing itself of the advantage which age gives to crime, it has perverted the judgment, blunted the moral sense, blasted the sympathies, and created in the great mass,—the overwhelming majority of the people,—a moral sentiment altogether favorable to its own character and its own continuance. Press and pulpit are alike prostituted, and made to serve the end of this infernal institution. The power of the government, and the sanctity of religion, church and state, arc joined with the guilty oppressor against the oppressed; and the voice of this great nation is thundering in the ears of our enslaved countrymen the terrible fiat, You shall be slaves, or die! The slave is in the minority, a small minority; the oppressors are an overwhelming majority. The oppressed are three millions; their oppressors are seventeen millions. The one is weak; the other is strong. The one is without arms, without means of concert, and without government; the other possesses every advantage in these respects; and the deadly aim of their million musketry, and loud-mouthed cannon, tells the down-trodden slave, in unmistakeable language, he must be a slave or die. In these circumstances, your committee are called upon to report as to the best means of abolishing slavery. And without pretending to discuss all the ways which have been suggested from time to time by various parties and factions,—though, did time permit, they would gladly do so,—they beg at once to state their entire disapprobation of any plan of emancipation involving a resort to bloodshed. With the facts of our condition before us, it is impossible for us to contemplate any appeal to the slave to take vengeance on his guilty master, but with the utmost reprobation. Your committee regard any counsel of this sort as the perfection of folly, suicidal in the extreme, and abominably wicked. We should utterly frown down and wholly discountenance any attempt to lead our people to confide in brute force as a reformatory instrumentality. All argument put forth in favor of insurrection and bloodshed, however well intended, is either the result of an unpardonable impatience or an atheistic want of faith in the power of truth as a means of regenerating and reforming the world. Again we repeat, let us set our faces against all such absurd, unavailing, dangerous and mischievous ravings, emanating from what source they may. The voice of God, and of common sense, equally point out a more excellent way, and that way is a faithful, earnest and persevering enforcement of the great principles of justice and morality, religion and humanity. These are the only invincible and infallible means within our reach with which to overthrow this foul system of blood and ruin. Your committee deem it susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that slavery exists in this country, because the people of this country will its existence. And they deem it equally clear, that no system or institution can exist for an hour against the earnestly expressed will of the people. It were quite easy to bring to the support of the foregoing proposition powerful and conclusive illustrations from the history of reform in all ages, and especially in our own. But the palpable truths of the propositions, as well as the familiarity of the facts illustrating them, entirely obviate such a necessity.
Our age is an age of great discoveries; and one of the greatest is that which revealed that this world is to be ruled, shaped and guided by the marvelous might of mind. The human voice must supersede the roar of cannon. Truth alone is the legitimate antidote of falsehood. Liberty is always sufficient to grapple with tyranny. Free speech, free discussion, peaceful agitation—the foolishness of preaching these, under God, will subvert this giant crime, and send it reeling to its grave, as it smitten by a voice from the throne of God. Slavery exists because it is popular. It will cease to exist when it is made unpopular. Whatever, therefore, tends to make slavery unpopular, tends to its destruction. This every slaveholder knows full well, and hence his opposition to all discussion on the subject. It is an evidence of intense feeling of alarm, when John C. Calhoun calls upon the North to put down what he is pleased to term "this plundering agitation." Let us give the slaveholder what he most dislikes. Let us expose his crimes and his foul abominations He is reputable, and must be made disreputable. He must be regarded as a moral leper—shunned as a loathsome wretch—outlawed from Christian communion, and from social respectability—an enemy of God and man, to be execrated by the community till he shall repent of his foul crimes, and give proof of his sincerity by breaking every chain and letting the oppressed go free. Let us invoke the press and appeal to the pulpit to deal out the righteous denunciations of heaven against oppression, fraud and wrong; and the desire of our hearts will soon be given us in the triumph of liberty throughout all the land.
As to the second topic upon which the committee have been instructed to report, the committee think the subject worthy of a far wider range of discussion than the limited time at present allotted to them will allow. The importance of the subject, the peculiar position of our people, the variety of interests involved with questions growing out of it, all serve to make this subject one of great complexity as well as solemn interest.
Your committee would therefore respectfully recommend the appointment of a committee of one, whose duty it shall be to draft a full report on this subject, and report at the next National Convention.
Your committee would further recommend the adoption of the following resolutions as embodying the sentiments of the foregoing report:
Resolved, That our only hope for peaceful emancipation in this land is based on a firm, devoted and unceasing, assertion of our rights, and a full, free and determined exposure of our multiplied wrongs.
Resolved, That, in the language of inspired wisdom, there shall be no peace to the wicked, and that this guilty nation shall have no peace, and that we will do all that we can to agitate! agitate!! agitate!!! till our rights are restored, and our brethren are redeemed from their cruel chains.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
Frederick Douglass,
Alexander Crummell,
John Lyle,
Thos. Van Rensselaer.
REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
We, the representatives of the people of the commonwealth of Liberia, in convention assembled, invested with authority for forming a new government relying upon the aid and protection of the great Arbiter of human events, do hereby, in the name and on behalf of the people of this commonwealth, publish and declare the said commonwealth a free, sovereign and independent state, by the name and title of the Republic of Liberia.
While announcing to the nations of the world the new position which the people of this Republic have felt themselves called upon to assume, courtesy to their opinions seems to demand a brief accompanying statement of the causes which induced them, first to expatriate themselves from the land of their nativity, and to form settlements on this barbarous coast, and now to organize their government by the assumption of a sovereign and independent character. Therefore we respectfully ask their attention to the following facts:
We recognize in all men certain natural and inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the right to acquire, possess, enjoy and defend property. By the practice and consent of men in all ages, some system or form of government is proven to be necessary to exercise, enjoy and secure these rights; and every people has a right to institute a government and to choose and adopt that system or form of it, which, in their opinion, will most effectually accomplish these objects, and secure their happiness, which does not interfere with the just rights of others. The right, therefore, to institute government, and all the powers necessary to conduct it, is an inalienable right, and cannot be resisted without the grossest injustice.
We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally the inhabitants of the United States of North America.
In some parts of that country, we were debarred by law from all the rights and privileges of men; in other parts, public sentiment, more powerful than law, frowned us down.
We were everywhere shut out from all civil office.
We were excluded from all participation in the government.
We were taxed without our consent.
We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country which gave us no protection.
We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us every avenue to improvement was effectually closed. Strangers from all lands, of a color different from ours, were preferred before us.
We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or only met by alleging the peculiar institutions of the country.
All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus wholly extinguished in our bosoms, and we looked with anxiety abroad for some asylum from the deep degradation.
The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by American benevolence and philanthropy, for our future home. Removed beyond those influences which depressed us in our native land, it was hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights and privileges, and exercise and improve those faculties which the God of nature has given us in common with the rest of mankind.
Under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, we established ourselves here, on land acquired by purchase from the lords of the soil.
In an original compact with this Society, we, for important reasons, delegated to it certain political powers; while this institution stipulated that whenever the people should become capable of conducting the government, or whenever the people should desire it, this institution would resign the delegated power, peaceably withdraw its supervision, and leave the people to the government of themselves.
Under the auspices and guidance of this institution, which has nobly and in perfect faith redeemed its pledges to the people, we have grown and prospered.
From time to time, our number has been increased by emigration from America, and by accessions from native tribes; and from time to time, as ci cumstances required it, we have extended our borders by the acquisition of land by honorable purchase from the natives of the country.
As our territory has extended, and our population increased, our commerce has also increased. The flags of most of the civilized nations of the earth float in our harbors, and their merchants are opening an honorable and profitable trade. Until recently these visits have been of a uniformly harmonious character, but as they have become more frequent, and to more numerous points of our extending coast questions have arisen, which it is supposed can be adjusted only by agreement between sovereign powers.
For years past, the American Colonization Society has virtually withdrawn from all direct and active part in the administration of the government, except in the appointment of the Governor, who is also a colonist, for the apparent purpose of testing the ability of the people to conduct the affairs of government, and no complaint of crude legislation, nor of mismanagement, nor of mal-administration, has yet been heard.
In view of these facts, this institution, the American Colonization Society, with that good faith which has uniformly marked all its dealings with us, did, by a set of resolutions, in January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, dissolve all political connection with the people of this Republic, return the power with which it was delegated, and left the people to the government of themselves.
The people of the Republic of Liberia, then, are of right, and in fact, a free, sovereign and independent State, possessed of all the rights, powers and functions of government.
In assuming the momentous responsibilities of the position they have taken, the people of this Republic feel justified by the necessities of the case, and with this conviction they throw themselves with confidence upon the candid consideration of the civilized world.
Liberia is not the offspring of grasping ambition, nor the tool of avaricious speculation.
No desire for territorial aggrandizement brought us to these shores; nor do we believe so sordid a motive entered into the high considerations of these who aided us in providing this asylum.
Liberia is an asylum from the most grinding oppression.
In coming to the shores of Africa, we indulged the pleasing hope that we would be permitted to exercise and improve those faculties which impart to man his dignity; to nourish in our hearts the flame of honorable ambition; to cherish and indulge those aspirations which a beneficent Creator had implanted in every human heart; and to evince to all who despise, ridicule and oppress our race, that we possess with them a common nature, are with them susceptible of equal refinement, and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns and dignifies man.
We were animated with the hope, that here we should be at liberty to train up our children in the way they should go; to inspire them with the flame of a lofty philanthropy, and to form strong within them the principles of humanity, virtue and religion.
Among the strongest motives to leave our native land—to abandon forever the scenes of our childhood, and to sever the most endeared connexions, was the desire for a retreat where, free from the agitations of fear and molestation, we could, in composure and security, approach in worship the God of our fathers.
Thus far our highest hopes have been realized.
Liberia is already the happy home of thousands, who were once the doomed victims of oppression, and if left unmolested to go on with her natural and spontaneous growth; if her movements be left free from the paralyzing intrigues of jealous ambition and unscrupulous avarice, she will throw open a wider and yet a wider door for thousands, who are now looking with an anxious eye for some land of rest.
Our courts of justice are open equally to the stranger and the citizen for the redress of grievances, for the remedy of injuries, and for the punishment of crime.
Our numerous and well attended schools attest our efforts and our desire for the improvement of our children.
Our churches for the worship of our Creator, everywhere to be seen, bear testimony to our piety, and to our acknowledgment of His Providence.
The native African, bowing down with us before the altar of the living God, declare that from us, feeble as we are, the light of Christianity has gone forth, while upon that curse of curses, the slave trade, a deadly blight has fallen, as far as our influence extends.
Therefore, in the name of humanity, and virtue, and religion,—in the name of the great God, our common Creator and our common judge, we appeal to the nations of Christendom, and earnestly and respectfully ask of them that they will regard us with the sympathy and friendly consideration to which the peculiarities of our condition entitle us, and to extend to us that comity which marks the friendly intercourse of civilized and independent communities.
From the New York Advocate and Guardian.
A STANDARD-BEARER HAS FALLEN.
As God's ambassador, but yesterday
Was standing at his post, and words of truth
Fell from his lips with solemn earnestness,
As from a dying man to dying men.
To-day those tender tones are bushed in death!
The loved, the good, the gifted, speaks no more.
His lyre is tuned in other worlds than this;
His earthly toils all left to other bands.
Reform in all its forms has suffered loss.
Virtue no firmer advocate e'er knew,
Her bleeding cause has few such friends to lose—
Who from the sacred altar shall arise,
To fill the breach, and utter "all the law."
From a communication received from a friend in Poughkeepsie, dated Nov. 23d, we copy the following extract:
* * * * "I presume before this you have received the sad news of the death of that truly devoted friend of the cause of moral purity, Rev. Charles Van Loon. You will, I know, pardon me for intruding so much on your time, but I felt constrained to give vent to my full heart, in penning a few lines relative to the departure of one whose loss is so deeply felt by this community, and by others. He was taken last Sabbath, just before the time for evening service, and died about 12 o'clock the same night. He preached in his usual impressive manner, on Sabbath morning, from the text, 'I am not alone, for the Father is with me.' In his closing remark upon death, he said the Christian was not alone. 'Hark,' said he, 'what voice is that I hear? It is the receding voice of the watchman just before the morn, saying, All's well, all's well. Oh, I felt as I held his cold hand while being paralyzed by the chill of death, and looked upon that beautiful face as the change of death was passing over it, if those lips could speak, they would say, 'All's well;' but that was not permitted: he was speechless from the time he was taken until the last. He was taken with paralysis, occasioned by disease of the heart, but breathed his last calmly, without a struggle, so we could hardly believe he had gone. He was to have preached in the evening from the text, 'We all do fade as a leaf,' and said, as the congregation were about leaving, 'Remember, my friends, the withered leaf will preach to you this evening.' Oh, it seemed prophetic; for how emphatically it did preach.
"But his work was done, and well done. There was no man that would so fearlessly speak the whole counsel of God, and reprove sin, all sin, as he. The people of this village can bear testimony to that. I ever felt satisfied in sitting under his ministry, that I was listening to one who made no compromises, and who would do his duty, regardless of consequences. He thought not a moment about worldly expediency, but when he heard the voice of his Master saying, 'This is the way; walk ye in it,' he conferred not with flesh and blood, but went forward. The oppresed, the fallen and exposed of every class, have lost a friend indeed. Oh, that we may be anew consecrated to that work to which he was so devoted.
"Rev. H. G. Ludlow, in an affecting manner, pronounced an eulogy upon him as a man and a Christian, and such an one as I never heard before. He said he 'was a nobleman in every sense of the word; he was truly a holy man. Never did I know a man like Charles Van Loon. May his spirit fall on us all.' He was so affected that he could hardly proceed.
"Mr. Waldo feels his loss deeply; they sympathized with each other in the moral reforms of the day, and were like brothers. While he gazed upon that lovely countenance, cold in death, it seemed as if his heart would break. We never shall look upon his like again, nor can his pulpit be filled by another like him. You will excuse my saying so much, but you know not how we loved him. His poor, afflicted widow is almost heart-broken, and a wide circle of bereaved friends will deeply mourn their loss." * * E. W.
It will be recollected that our departed brother was one of the speakers who addressed our late meeting at Troy, where address has doubtless been expected ere this in our paper. The brief notes taken of it would have been given with the proceedings of the meeting but for the fact that we relied on a personal promise received, that the address should be furnished entire for our pages. We had anticipated in reception, and feared that illness caused the delay, up to the receipt of the above painful announcement. This address contained a better, more conclusive argument in favor of legal enactments for the suppression of vice, than any we have yet beard, and appealed most persuasively to the consciences of the legislators, several of whom were providentially present to hear it. The claims of the cause in its several departments were pleaded with the earnestness of one whose words were but the simple utterances of the heart; and the closing appeal to the friends present to hold on their way, taking encouragement from the indications of Providence and the promises of God, would not, probably, have been couched in stronger terms, had the speaker been fully aware that he was speaking to us as an association for the last time.
Beloved friends of moral purity, in the solemn assembly, in the social circle, we shall hear his voice no more. With the friends of temperance, and the friends of the slave, we may well wear the badge of sorrow. More cause have we than they, for our efficient advocates are fewer among the teachers in Israel. The dear departed was not only a faithful champion in the cause, but a brother in adversity. We well remember his words of encouragement and sympathy, when the trial hour was darkest. "Learn," said he, "to sail complacently upon troubled waters, knowing that the Lord of the storm is above them;" and once and again, by precept and example, has he bid us "to tread the thorns down," and press onward.
We cannot contemplate his early exit without deep emotion; and yet we rejoice that he has gained the bliss of eaven, and that he was so long spared to do good.
Are we not admonished on every hand by the voice of sudden death? Many, during the past year, who, to human view, could ill be spared from their posts of labor, have suddenly obeyed the summons to depart hence. Who among the living shall be next to fall? Who of us, in view of the coming shaft, would be ready to respond with sweet composure, "My Master's time is mine?"
AN EXTRACT.
There is a heresy—a most death-dealing heresy—prevalent among both white and colored people in this land, in regard to the abolition of slavery. It may be best expressed in the language of its own choice, to wit: "Slavery will be abolished just when the Lord shall will its abolition." That white persons, especially pro-slavery ministers, and hypocritical Lectors of Divinity, should use this miserable cant, does not excite my surprise as much as my indignation; but that colored persons should be gulled and lulled into a state of indifference about their rights on such a plea, fills me with unmingled mortification. It is a delusion and a snare, to think that Almighty God will undertake for ourselves. His work is done; ours alone remains to be done.
God's work, is as complete in the moral and intellectual elements of creation as it is in the physical works of creation, and we give as much right to expect that he will make the corn to grow and give us an abundant harvest, without effort on our part, as to expect that we shall be a free and happy people, without effort on our part. If there be one thing in our people which I abominate more than another, it is their everlasting praying for blessings which they are unwilling to labor for. Remember, when a slave, I used to pray that the Lord would give me freedom. I prayed thus three years, and was as far from freedom in that way the third year as the first; and I might have prayed in slavery till this time, had I not "prayed with my heels." Our works must be consistent with our prayers, otherwise they are an abomination before God. We shall redeem the slave at the South, and obtain equal rights at the North, just so soon as we have faithfully used these means which God and Nature have placed within our reach, and not before. The days of miracles have passed. Truth, Love and Justice are the instruments of salvation, and "he only is free whom the Truth makes free." The Almighty will not make the ignorant intelligent, the degraded respectable, the drunken sober, nor the indolent industrious. In these respects man is to work out his own salvation, and God will bless him in the effort.
RUGGLE'S WATER-CURE.
Although many of your readers have been made acquainted with Dr. Ruggles skill in detecting the symptoms of disease by the sense of touch, and of the happy results that have attended his application if the water treatment in remarkable cases, I should deem it a privilege to be allowed, through the columns of your paper, to state, for the information and encouragement of such as may be suffering from scrofulous humor, the result of his treatment in the following case:
My son, ten years of age, inherited this debilitating disease from his mother. From his infancy, I had resorted to the remedies of the regular physicians, and the various quack medicines in use, without avail. In the summer of 1845, his symptoms became more alarming. Nausea, vertigo, inflammation of the bowels, and extreme weakness of the nervous system, were among the symptoms which deeply concerned the family for his future prospects. At this time he was examined by Dr. Ruggles, who considered him a good case for the cure. I at once placed him under his care, where he remained about seven months, during which time he had a painful crisis, which commenced on the trunk of his body, and extended down the legs to the feet and toes, which became inflamed and swollen to more than twice their ordinary size; the color of his feet changing alternatively from a red to a purplish hue. They finally became suppuarated, in which state they continued about six weeks, the humor exhaling from the sides of his feet and the ends of his toes, leaving the system entirely free from the disease. Since leaving the cure, he has grown as fast as could be desired, and continues in the enjoyment of good health.
Northampton, Dec. 16, 1847.
Anti-Slavery Movement in Virginia.—The Louisville Examiner announces the commencement of a movement in Virginia, for Emancipation. It is made by responsible persons—mostly slave-holders. This movement will answer the purpose, at best, of causing inquiry and agitation. We know that many persons in Virginia are anxious for Emancipation, in fact, unless it does take place, a large part of Virginia threatens to become a wilderness.
The Examiner, speaking of this movement, says:
"The first important circumstance to be noticed is, that this step has been taken by slaveholders themselves. The chief actor is the Rev. H. Reffner, D. D. He is well known personally or by character, throughout Virginia and Kentucky, as an able Divine of the Presbyterian Church, and one of the learned men of the South. With him are associated S. McD. Moore, John Letaher, David B. Curry, Jas. G. Hamilton, George A. Barker, J. H. Lacy, Echols Jane, John R. Gordas, J. Fuller, Jr., D. El Moore, and John W. Fuller. All these are men of character, and nearly all of them are known slaveholders."