# The North Star (Rochester)/1847/12/03/Full text

THE NORTH STAR.
| FREDERICK DOUGLASS, M. R. DELANY, | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ 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. I. | ROCHESTER, N. Y., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1847. | WHOLE NO. |
The NORTH STAR is published every Friday, at No. 25, Buffalo Street, (Opposite the Arcade.)
TERMS.
Two dollars per annum, always in advance. No subscription will be received for a less term than six months.
Advertisements not exceeding ten lines inserted three times for one dollar; every subsequent insertion, twenty-five cents.
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.
PUBLISHER'S NOTICES.
☞ All communications relating to the business matters of the paper names of subscribers, remittances, &c., should be addresses to William C. Nell, Publisher.
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LIST OF AGENTS.
Massachusetts.—R. F. Walcutt, 21, Cornhill, Boston; Nathan Johnson, New Bedford; Horatio W. Foster, Lowell; James N. Buffum, Lynn; George Evans, Worcester; Bourne Spooner, Plymouth; Charles H. Seth, Springfield; David Ruggles, Northampton.
Maine.—Oliver Dennett, Portland.
Vermont.—Rowland T. Robinson, North Ferrisburg.
Connecticut.—Jonathan Leonard, Meriden.
New Hampshire.—Weare Tappan, Bradford.
New York.—Sydney H. Gay, 142, Nassau Street; James McCune Smith, 93, West Broadway; Joseph Post, Westbury, Queen County; Mary Harper, Albany.
Pennsylvania.—J. M. M'Kim, 3l, North Fifth Street, Philadelphia; G. W. Goines, 8, Exchange Place, Ditto; H. Vashon, B. Bown, Pittsburg; William Whipper, Columbia; Isaac Roberts, Jacob L. Paxon, Norristown, Montgomery County.
Ohio.—Christian Donaldson, Cincinnati; G. W. Carter, Ditto; Valentine Nicholson, Harveysburgh, Warren County; Samuel Brooke, Salem.
Michigan.—Robert Banks, Detroit.
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THE NORTH STAR.
ROCHESTER, DECEMBER 3, 1847.
THE COLORED CONVENTION.
We give Mr. Nell's report of the doings of this Convention, as the best we have seen. The crowded state of our columns prevents our publishing in the present number, any of the able and interesting reports which engaged the attention of that body. We shall attend to them in our next.
For the confidence reposed in me, by an appointment as your delegate to the National Convention of colored Americans and their friends, I tender my sincere thanks. The mission was accepted with much diffidence, from an apprehension of the responsibility which its duties would necessarily involve; but encouraged by your Committee, I did not feel at liberty to decline the service your favor had conferred upon me.
The Convention assembled on Wednesday, at ten o'clock, A.M., Oct. 6th, 1847, at the Liberty Street church, in Troy, New York, and organized under the following officers, viz:—
Nathan Johnson, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, President.
Dr. James McCune Smith and Peyton Harris, of New York, and Rev. J. W. C. Pennington, of Connecticut, Vice-Presidents.
William H. Topp, Charles B. Ray, of New York, and William C. Nell, of Massachusetts, Secretaries.
Henry H. Garnett, Charles B. Ray, and Leonard Collins, of Massachusetts, Willis Hodges, of New York, and Lewis Hayden, of Michigan, Business Committee.
The number of delegates enrolled was sixty-six, of whom New York gave forty-four; Massachusetts, fifteen; Connecticut, two; and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Kentucky and Michigan, one each. There was one delegate (Benjamin Weeden,) from a large constituency at Northampton, who, being impressed with the importance of abolishing all complexional distinction, and thus influencing the Convention by a positive demonstration, recorded their names in full upon his credentials, two-thirds of whom were white citizens, which fact was received by the Convention with hearty applause, suggesting an expression of the hope from several members, that future gatherings will be characterized by delegates in good numbers of white and colored persons, prompted by a common feeling against slavery and prejudice. This is, after all, the most feasible plan for eradicating the font spirit of caste. The barrier of separation, if ever prostrated, must be by union of both parties and they who hold back, (of whatever color,) are verily guilty concerning their brother.
The Committee on Education reported, by Alexander Crummell, the expediency of the establishment of a college for colored young men. In this report was embodied a fund of argument illustrated with all that beauty of diction for which its talented author has long enjoyed a distinguished reputation. It was ably supported by James McCune Smith, who brought in aid of it his extensive learning and tact in statistical expression. Their views were concurred in by a large party in the Convention, but more especially by the New York delegation. On the opposite side were arrayed talent, skill, and earnestness of argument, by Frederick Douglass, Thomas Van Rensallaer, Amos G. Beman. Charles Seth, H. H. Garnett, and others, who did not discover, at present, any necessity for a colored college. Among the reasons in its favor was urged, that such an institution would excite, among the colored citizens, a more general desire for mental improvement; that the aspirants for learning would soon compose a class sufficient to fill it, as also to patronize, those already existing; that a field would hereby be opened for the employment of those qualified for professorships in the various departments. It was also mentioned that one distinguished and wealthy individual had manifested a willingness to appropriate a large sum of money in aid of any tangible method of ameliorating the condition of colored Americans; and in the opinion of friends, the college was presumed to embody most of the features of an available plan. It was further urged that the colored youth, under care of colored teachers, associating with those of his own complexion and condition, would not feel depressed as likely to be in other institutions, surrounded by those whom he had always regarded as opposed to his equality, and, therefore, colored colleges were the most favorable to his mental growth.
In reply, it was remarked that the establishment of a colored college was attempted many years ago, and could not succeed, being regarded by many as an extravagant and uncalled-for measure; that it was too late in the day for colored people themselves to found any exclusive institution; there are, now, colleges and academies where they can be admitted on equal terms with white students, and that, therefore, the necessity did not exist; and it was their glorious privilege to contend for equality, to secure every point gained, and still press on for more. The fear of colored children sinking under the weight of prejudice in a white institution, was not a conclusive argument against their exercising the right of entrance. The colored youth should be stimulated to establish such a character, in these seats of learning, by his energy in study, and deportment towards teachers and pupils, as to disarm opposition, show himself an equal, and, in despite of cold looks and repulsive treatment, hew out a path to eminence and respect, and, like the gem, which shines brighter by attrition, become himself among good scholars the very best. Perseverance will accomplish wonders. History is replete with examples, where young persons have thus, by a harmonious association, converted enemies into good friends. Reference was made to Massachusetts and other States, where the doors of many institutions of learning are now thrown open, and the colored student was invited to participate freely with others.
Another argument, and one urged against every exclusive colored institution, was, that the expense and trouble necessary for their establishment, could be employed to a more practical and permanent advantage in securing access, to those already organized. We should not entertain for a moment the idea of creating any more links of that prejudice which is now binding us to earth; but, as other Americans, push our way through the various avenues of improvement and elevation.
After an animated discussion, the question was taken by yeas and nays, and resulted in favor of the plan of a colored college, viz:—Yeas, 26; Nays, 17; and a committee of 25 was appointed to solicit funds in aid thereof. The other recommendation from the same committee was submitted by Dr. Smith, in favor of the establishment of a National Press.
The report was adopted. Yeas 27; nays 8.
At the suggestion of the Committee on Agriculture, a resolution of thanks to Gerrit Smith was voted, for his munificent donation of lands to the colored men of New-York, in concurrence with which several speeches were made in favor of colored people emigrating from cities and locating on good farming spots, where they could build for themselves a home, identifying themselves and children with the population there settled—grow up with them, and thus exert a direct influence on the great question of human freedom.
A document was presented from the Committee on Commerce, in which a company in Jamaica proposed a plan for trading operations with their colored brethren in the United States. A large committee was appointed to collect facts, correspond, &c., and aid in accelerating the spirit of commercial enterprise.
The evening sessions were held at Morris Hall, and were set aside for addresses from distinguished members of the Convention. A large audience was present on the second evening, when, after an inspiring song, the meeting commenced with an address to the slaves from Henry H. Garnett. To those acquainted with his talent and eloquence, it will be unnecessary to mention that the address produced much sensation.
Mr. Douglass, at a subsequent meeting, introduced a report on the "best means of abolishing Slavery and Caste in the United States," wherein was ably upheld the doctrine of moral suasion in opposition to physical force, and which became in turn, as an offset to Mr. Garnett's address—a protracted matter of debate. They were incorporated with the Minutes.
Amos G. Beman gave vent to his feelings in a most eloquent speech on the pro-slavery result of the colored suffrage question in his native State, Connecticut; remarking that nine-tenths of the Irish residents in Connecticut, voted against the colored man; and though he had loved Ireland, revered her great men, sympathized with her present and past afflictions, and some of her blood flowed in his veins, he could not forego administering the burning rebuke which he believed due for their recreancy to the cause of human right, and to the men who had never done harm to them. His rebuke was certainly a just one, but perhaps needs one remark in extenuation. The opposition of Irishmen in America to colored men, is not so much in Hibernianism as an Americanism. Abuse of the colored people is popular, and the pecuniary interest of many of the Irish is promoted by imitating the bad example of their pro-slavery American teachers. Let them be severely rebuked, but in all justice strike the most guilty party the hardest blow. As a cheering sign of the times, the speaker mentioned that Judge Daggett, who had been for years opposed to the elevation of the colored man, had so far changed his opinion as to have deposited, at the recent canvass, his ballot in favor of colored suffrage.
Alexander Crummell offered a speech, which for beauty and chasteness of language, classic research, and with a logical expression, commanded the close attention of the refined and intelligent audience.—Many legal gentlemen, and others from the highest society in Troy, were present, and must have received a favorable opinion of what can be attained by colored men, crushed to the earth even though they are, by the combined influence of Church and State.
A prominent feature in the speech of Frederick Douglass was an exhortation to the colored people to come out from their pro-slavery churches; exclaiming that his right arm should wither before he would worship at their blood-stained altars; they were not the places for colored men. This sentiment created some excitement,—for colored men, like others, don't care to be reminded of their inconsistencies.
The influence of the public meetings was most beneficial; audiences were numerous and highly respectable. The question of Slavery and elevation of the colored man, became topics of general conversation, even in circles hitherto deaf to every association of the kind.
The recommendation for State Conventions to discuss local grievances, was unanimously adopted. The place or the next National Convention was finally decided, but not without considerable difference of opinion, to be NEWARK, N. J.
The Convention continued in session until Saturday, at 4 o'clock, P. M., when the members united in singing 'children of the glorious dead,' and invoking upon each other the blessing of God, and separated for their respective homes.
It may safely be asserted that much good will result from this Convention. Intelligent men there assembled to enquire what shall be done to extirpate Slavery from the land and elevate the character of its oppressed. Here mind grappled with mind, plans were proposed and their merits discussed; and while discouragements, reported from any locality, awakened sympathy in kindred hearts, the least dawn of success inspired all with a new zeal; pledging their every effort to hasten the day of emancipation.
The grand question at the Convention, was that of emerging, as soon as possible, from all exclusive colored institutions, and becoming part and parcel of a general community. Colored people are learning daily that new avenues are opening for their improvement in all the varied business and social relations of life, and do not wish to be behind the age. The intelligent among them will 'jump on board the Car of Freedom,' and if there are those who will cling to the flesh-pots of Egypt, why, they should not complain if the advancing train jostle them from the track.
The Convention did not, because it could not, recommend any novel plan for elevation. Any person, of ordinary calibre, must know that to become elevated, they must cultivate and practice the same traits which are elevating others around them; and if it is (as indeed we all feel it to be,) harder for the colored man than others, why then let him work the harder, and, eventually the summit will be attained.
We shall not be transported, en masse, as the fabled palace of Aladdin was by the hands of a Magician, and set down upon some elysian plain; but each for himself, must aim for the height, and an excelsior march will soon place his feet, like the Patriarch's of old, upon Pisgah's top, where the promised land of Equality will be presented in full view to his longing eyes. W. C. N.
Boston, Oct. 1847.
From the Liberator. BLUE AND BLACK LAWS.
A signal proof of the practical value of American piety, has recently been afforded by the sanctimonious state of Connecticut. We suppose our readers know there is no State that has made her phylacteries broader, or made louder prayers at the corners of the streets, or tithed mint, anise and cummin more strictly than this same psalm-singing Connecticut. She is eminently an Orthodox Commonwealth. Heresy has abstained from her borders in an extraordinary manner. Only one or two Unitarian congregations have been able to breathe there—and we are not quite sure that they are not starved to death. Profane amusements have stood rebuked before the severe virtue of her look. Play-actors have fled amain before her face. Balls have been looked out of countenance. Cards and dice are unknown iniquities. The Sabbath is, or was lately preserved by law as strictly as an English patridge. The Clergy is recognized a true Theocratic Oligarchy. The sanctuary is thronged from week to week with the desperation of a people stripped of every other diversion. It is the State of Colleges, Theological Schools, Bible, Missionary, Tract, and Colonization Societies. If ever there were a nation zealous of good works, here is their habitation. The atmosphere that overhangs the land is heavy with the odor of sanctity.
The laws by which the piety and morality of this peculiar people were hedged around in the elder time, were denominated by the profane, "the Blue Laws." And that cerulean hue has thence been taken as the color of righteous souls as well as of "true hearts." The old Blue Laws to be sure, have been somewhat modified, as time has worn on; but the spirit that dictated and inspired them has survived and still walks abroad. That spirit was the spirit of caste and tyranny. The spirit that looked about tor some to whom it might say—"Stand further off, for I am holier than thou!" This spirit is still rife and rampant. It is still embodied in laws,—of which the color only is changed. The Blue Laws have given way to the Black Laws—laws as cruel, as absurd, as unnatural, as immoral, as Anti-Christian as anything in the whole circle of the Blue Laws, or as their whole code put together. The Blue Laws were an oppression to man. The Black Laws are an insult to God. The Blue Laws contemplated the texture of a man's soul—the Black Laws that of his skin. The one had to do with matters within the control of those upon, whom they acted. The other with matters over which the sufferers have only, the power of the Ethiopian over his skin, or the leopard over his spots. The one code punished men for acts of their own doing; the other punishes them for the crime of their Creator.
Within a few weeks, an amendment to the Constitution of Connecticut, by which the equal political rights of colored men with white men were recognized, was submitted to the suffrages of the People. The proposition, as far as we are informed, stood alone. The bald question whether the color of the skin, should be a bar to political equality, was that which the lieges of Connecticut were called together to decide. And what was the decision? Out of some fifty thousand voters, only about twenty-five thousand took the pains to express any opinion at all; and of those that did vote, only some five thousand were found willing to recognize the man of color as a political equal with themselves. Those who abstained from voting may fairly be taken as opposed to the amendment,—so it appears that out of the entire voting population, but one tenth were free from this base, degrading, absurd, inhuman, anti-Christian prejudice of color! We doubt whether any community, in proportion to its size, could be found, in the world, out of this country, that would not be ashamed of political association with such riduculous barbarians. The Hottentots rise to a high place in the scale of civilization in the comparison. For we do not believe that even a Hottentot would deny the humanity of a Connecticut pedlar, should one find his way to his kraal,—at least if he had never heard of this demonstration on the part of the Pedlar State.
The meanness of this transaction is a match for its absurdity. The State of Connecticut, we take it, has not the slightest scruples about putting her dirty hands into the pockets of these colored citizens,—or rather inhabitants who are not citizens,—and making them pay their proportion of the expenses of the government, in which they have no voice. Some seventy-five years ago there was none of the Colonies louder in denunciations of the British Parliament for taxing them without representation than this same colony of Connecticut. She sent Israel Putnam and (which is more to the purpose) Benedict Arnold, to fight the battles of liberty. And having got what she wanted, as far as Great Britain was concerned, she turns round and treats a portion of her own population in the same manner. The British Parliament imposed the taxes on tea, glass and painter's colors, because it supposed that the Colonies were not strong enough to resist the imposition. The State of Connecticut does the very same thing, because she knows that the handful of poor colored men within her borders can offer no effectual resistance to this oppression. She is proved, by her own acts, to be recreant to principle. She is a traitor to the cause for which the Revolution was fought. She shows that now, at least, the spirit of Arnold predominates over that of Putnam in her composition.
Now what can be the motive for such a demonstration as this? The motive we apprehend to be two-fold. It is compounded partly of the wish which low grovelling natures have to trample on something beneath them. This accounts for much of the persecution of the colored people, everywhere, in the free States. It is a comfort to the lowest and most degraded of the whites to feel that there is a class of society which they can despise and trample. In the States which make the loudest pretensions to Democracy and regard for popular rights, the popular right of insulting and injuring the colored people with impunity is one of the most prized of all. This element, doubtless, enters largely into the mental composition of this nine-tenths of Connecticut voters. But there is yet another, the influence of which is so less potent. There is no State of which a greater proportion of the inhabitants are engaged in direct business with the South. This traffic, manufacturing, commercial and peddling, extends itself through all classes of Society. And the result is a depth and bitterness of pro-slavery depravity, of which this vote is but an imperfect type.
There is but one thing to be said in mitigation of the sentence of unqualified condemnation which this recreant State deserves. And that is, that the abolitionists have hardly done their duty by her. They have passed by to fields of greater promise, and left her to the tender mercies of pro-slavery religion and pseudo-abolitionism. The result is a proof of the value of the labors of American Theology, and of the Third Political Party. We commend it to the American A. S. Society as a missionary ground calling loudly upon them to come over and help it. A campaign or two carried on with the spirit with which the war has been carried into other parts of the enemy's country, we are confident would make an impression, the effect of which would be seen whenever the question shall come up again for adjudication.—Q.
From the Liberty Chimes. REFORMERS.
BY WENDELL PHILLIPS.
Let no one who looks for fame join us. Let him wait rather, and be one of that crowd which will flock like doves to our windows, the moment the first gleam of success shall guide them. Our work is only to throw up, ourselves unseen, the pathway over which, unheeding, the triumphant majority are to pass, shouting the names of later and gaudier leaders as their watch-words.
How few ever heard of Zachary Macauley,—the counsellor to whom Wilberforce looked up,—one who rose before the sun to give every hour to the slave, and died at last that glorious poor man, which the creditor of humanity always is. But thousands echo the easier earned fame of his son!
How few know any thing of that little committee of Quakers, who labored unseen in Lombard street, that Wilberforce and Clarkson might be strong in the eyes of the great British people,—grappled uncheered with the British heart, and enlisted it finally in the cause of Africa; but went down, most of them to their graves forgotten, while the gallant ship which they had launched so painfully,—baptized with a new name, and bannered with a new flag, anchored in the safe harbor of a nation's welcome.
"We may regret," says the Edinburgh Review, "that those who sowed should not be allowed to reap, but such is the ordinary course of events. By separating success from merit, by imposing on one set of men the sacrifice and the labor, and giving to another the credit of the result, Providence seems to tell us that higher motives than any man can offer, ought to actuate those who assume the responsibility of Government."
In the place of "Government," put "Reform," and the sentiment is still more applicable to a cause like ours. "And grant," says old Fuller, "that God honors thee not to build his temple in thy Parish, yet thou mayest with David, provide metal and materials for Solomon, thy successor, to build it with."
Some reluct at the long time requisite to change the institutions of a nation, or regenerate its public sentiment. But here, too, a moment's thought shows us, how wise in this respect is the order of Providence. The progress of a great reform is a nation's school. It creates as it advances, the moral principle, the individual independence, the habit of private judgment, the enlightened public opinion, which are necessary for its own success, and thus, by new moulding the national character, and elevating its tone of morals, it confers far other and greater benefits than its originators at first proposed. And further, it naturally opens the eye to kindred abuses, or growing itself out of a wrong principle, which has other results besides this immediate one, it insensibly prepares the way for wider and more radical reform. Having once gathered under its banners an army of disinterested and enthusiastic hearts, its slow advance keeps them in the field long enough to form them veteran and willing laborers in every good cause. Forty-seven years in the wilderness were necessary to make the Egyptian slave a fit soldier for Joshua to lead, and a fit subject for David and Solomon to govern.
An acute observer has well remarked, speaking of the slow step of the English movement for a repeal of the corn laws:
"The change will be delayed so long, that when it comes the people will have been instructed in the necessity for something more than a mere repeal of an act of Parliament, important as that appeal unquestionably is. They will see the necessity for an organic change—that the cause of the evil is in selfish legislation, and that again springs from the exclusive possession by one small class of the legislative power; and thus Chartism, under the name of Complete Suffrage, will become the adored measure ofthe middling classes."
Welcome then the thought that careless History will probably drop from her tablets the names of those who were first to stem the current of corrupt popular opinion. It tends to keep our ranks pure.
Welcome the long years of struggle which show us that we are enlisted not for a single campaign, but for life. The discipline will make us wiser, and imprint deeper in our hearts the conviction, that it is from us the ranks of future reformers are to be recruited; and that to shut our eyes to the light of other reformations is to be traitor to the past.
MR. CLAY'S SPEECH.
Among the resolutions, which it is my intention to present for your consideration, at the conclusion of this address, one proposes in your behalf and mine, to disavow, in the most positive manner, any desire on our part to acquire any foreign territory whatever, for the purpose of introducing slavery into it. I do not know that any citizen of the United States entertains such a wish. But such a motive has been often imputed to the slave States, and I therefore think it necessary to notice it on this occasion. My opinions on the subject of slavery are well known. They have the merit, if it be one, of consistency, uniformity, and long duration. I have ever regarded slavery as a great evil, a wrong—for the present, I fear, an irremediable wrong to its unfortunate victims. I should rejoice if not a single slave breathed the air or was within the limits of our country. But here they are, to be dealt with as well as we can, with a due consideration of all circumstances affecting the security, safety and happiness of both races. Every State has the supreme, uncontrolled and exclusive power to decide for itself whether slavery shall cease or continue within its limits, without any exterior intervention from any quarter. In States where the slaves outnumber the whites, as is the case with several, the blacks could not be emancipated and invested with all the rights of freemen, without becoming the governing race in those States. Collisions and conflicts, between the two races, would be inevitable, and after shocking scenes of rapine and carnage, the extinction or expulsion of the blacks would certainly take place.
In the State of Kentucky, near fifty years ago, I thought the proportion of slaves, in comparison with the whites, was so inconsiderable that we might safely adopt a system of gradual emancipation that would ultimately eradicate this evil in our State. That system was totally different from the immediate abolition of slavery for which the party of Abolitionists of the present day contend. Whether they have intended it or not, it is my calm and deliberate belief that they have done incalculable mischief even to the very cause which they have espoused, to say nothing of the discord which has been produced between different parts of the Union.
According to the system, we attempted, near the close of the last century, all slaves in being were to remain such, but all who might be born subsequent to a special day, were to become free at the age of twenty-eight, and during their service were to be taught to read, write and cypher. Thus, instead of beng thrown upon the community, ignorant and unprepared, as would be the case by immediate emancipation, they would have entered upon the possession of their freedom, capable, in some degree, of enjoying it. After a hard struggle, the system was defeated, and I regret it extremely, as, if it had been then adopted, our State would be now nearly rid of that reproach.
Since that epoch, a scheme of unmixed benevolence has sprung up, which, if it had existed at that time, would have obviated one of the greatest objections which was made to gradual emancipation, which was the continuence of the emancipated slaves to abide among us. That scheme is the American Colonization Society.—About 28 years ago, a few individuals, myself among them, met together in the city of Washington, and laid the foundations of that society. It has gone on, amidst extraordinary difficulties and trials, sustaining itself almost entirely, by spontaneous and voluntary contributions, from individual benevolence, without scarcely any aid from Government. The colonies planted under its auspices, are now well established communities, with Churches, Schools, and other institutions, appertaining to the civilized state. They have made successful war in repelling attacks and invasions by their barbarous and savage neighbors. They have made treaties, annexed territories to their dominion, and are blessed with a free representative Government. I recently read a message from one of their Governors to their Legislature, which, in point of composition, and in careful attention to the public affairs of their Republic, would compare advantageously with the messages of the Governors of our own States. I am not very superstitious, but I do solemnly believe that these Colonies are blessed with the smiles of Providence; and, if we may dare attempt penetrating the veil, by which he conceals his allwise dispensations from mortal eyes, that he designs that Africa shall be the refuge and the home of the descendants of its sons and daughters, torn and dragged from their native land, by lawless violence.
It is a philanthropic and consoling reflection that the moral and physical condition of the African race in the U. States, even in a state of Slavery, is far better than it would have been if their ancestors had not been brought from their native land. And if it should be the decree of the Great Ruler of the Universe that their descendants shall be made instruments in His hands in the establishment of Civilization and Christian Religion throughout Africa, our regrets, on account of the original wrong, will be greatly mitigated.
It may be argued that, in admitting the injustice of slavery, I admit the necessity of an instantaneous reparation of this injustice. Unfortunately, however, it is not always safe, practicable or possible, in the great movements of States and public affairs of nations, to remedy or repair the infliction of previous injustice. In the inception of it, we may oppose and denounce it, by our most strenuous exertions, but, after its consummation, there it often no other alternative left us but to deplore its perpetration, and to acquiesce as the only alternative, in its existence, as a less evil than the frightful consequences which might ensue from the vain endeavor to repair it. Slavery is one of those unfortunate instances. The evil of it was inflicted upon us, by the parent country of Great Britain, against all the entreaties and remonstrances of the colonies. And here it is amongst and amidst us, and we must dispose of it as best we can under all the circumstances which surround us. It continued, by the importation of slaves from Africa in spite of Colonial resistance, for a period of more than a century and a half, and it may require an equal or longer lapse of time before our country is entirely rid of the evil. And, in the meantime, moderation, prudence and discretion among ourselves and the blessings of Providence may be all necessary to accomplish our ultimate deliverance from it. Example of similar infliction of irreparable national evil and injustice might be multiplied to an indefinite extent. The case of the annexation of Texas to the United States is a recent and an obvious one where, if it were wrong, it cannot now be repaired. Texas is now an integral part of our Union; with its own voluntary consent. Many of us opposed the annexation with honest zeal and most earnest exertions. But who would now think of perpetrating the folly of casting Texas out of the confederacy and throwing her back upon her own independence, or into the arms of Mexico? Who would now seek to divorce her from this Union?
The Creeks and the Cherokee Indians were, by the most exceptionable means, driven from their country, and transported beyond the Mississippi river. Their lands have been fairly purchased and occupied by inhabitants of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Who would not conceive of the flagrant injustice of expelling those inhabitants and restoring the Indian country to the Cherokees and the Creeks, under color of repairing original injustice? During the war of our revolution, millions of paper money were issued by our ancestors, as the only currency with which they could achieve our liberties and independence. Thousands and hundreds of families were stripped of their homes and their all and brought to ruin, by giving credit and confidence to the spurious currency. Stern necessity has prevented the reparation of that great national injustice.
THE GLORY.
Gen. Scott thus recapitulates his losses since arriving at the basin of Mexico:
August 19,20. Killed—137, including 14 officers. Wounded—877, including 52 officers. Missing—(probably killed) 38, rank and file. Total—1052.
September 8. Killed—116, including 9 officers. Wounded—665, including 49 officers. Missing—l8, rank and file. Total—789.
September 12, 13, 14. Killed—l39, including 10 officers. Wounded—703, including 68 officers. Missing—29, rank and file. Total—862.
Grand total of losses—2703, including 383 officers.
At the expense of twenty-seven hundred men, killed, or maimed and mangled, Gen. Scott has taken possession of the capital of Mexico, from which no private property can honestly or honorably be taken, and in which the public property, consisting of inferior ordnance and munitions of war, is not particularly valuable to our country. We find no great glory in this. He has moreoved proved that the Mexicans are comparatively weak or cowardly, or both—a very interesting ethnological fact, no doubt, but hardly worth so expensive a demonstration. We would give quite as much to know the source of the Niger, as to know which is the strongest and most combative, the Yankee or the Mexican; yet we thought the loss of Park was a high price to pay for the former bit of knowledge. What would the loss of 2700 Parks have been?
Gen. Scott seems to claim a great deal of glory on account of the small number of his men. He is rabid on the Union for overrating his forces, and lots old goody Ritchie have the following morsel in the midst of his glorification:
"The army has been more disgusted than surprised that, by some sinister process on the part of certain individuals at home, its numbers have been generally almost trebled in our public papers—beginning at Washington."
He claims to have marched from Puebla with 10,738 rank and file, and to have captured Mexico with 6000. This undoubtedly proves that Scott and his officers understand their trade, as Yankees always do, and that they and their men will fight like devils, whereas the Mexican soldiers will not even fight like men. But as history is very full of similar facts, we can not see anything even novel, much less glorious in all this. It seems nothing better than science, skill, courage, and strength wasted. To the Mexicans there might have been glory in a brave resistance if they had made it. But our army was not in a condition to win glory in any case. They either beat three times their number of cowards—no very glorious feat certainly, or they beat three times their number of brave but ill-directed and comparatively feeble men, righteously fighting for their hearth-stones. Is there any glory on that?—Chronotype.
THE NORTH STAR. ROCHESTER, DECEMBER 3, 1847.
OUR PAPER AND ITS PROSPECTS.
We are now about to assume the management of the editorial department of a newspaper, devoted to the cause of Liberty, Humanity and Progress. The portion is one which, with the purest motives, we have long desired to occupy. It has long been our anxious wish to see, in this slave-holding, slave-trading, and negro-hating land, a printing-press and paper, permanently established, under the complete control and direction of the immediate victims of slavery and oppression.
Animated by this intense desire, we have pursued our object, till on the threshold of obtaining it. Our press and printing materials are bought, and paid for. Our office secured, and is well situated, in the centre of business, in this enterprising city. Our office Agent, an industrious and amiable young man, thoroughly devoted to the interests of humanity, has already entered upon his duties. Printers well recommended have offered their services, and are ready to work as soon as we are prepared for the regular publication of our paper. Kind friends are rallying round us, with words and deeds of encouragement. Subscribers are steadily, if not rapidly coming in, and some of the best minds in the country are generously offering to lend us the powerful aid of their pens. The sincere wish of our heart, so long and so devoutly cherished seems now upon the ere of complete realization.
It is scarcely necessary for us to say that our desire to occupy our present position at the head of an Anti-Slavery Journal, has resulted from no unworthy distrust or ungrateful want of appreciation of the zeal, integrity, or ability of the noble band of white laborers, in this department of our cause; but, from a sincere and settled conviction that such a Journal, if conducted with only moderate skill and ability, would do a most important and indispensable work, which it would be wholly impossible for our white friends to do for us.
It is neither a reflection on the fidelity, nor a disparagement of the ability of our friends and fellow-laborers, to assert what "common sense affirms and only folly denies," that the man who has suffered the wrong in the man to demand redress,—that the man struck is the man to cry out—and that he who has endured the cruel pangs of Slavery is the man to advocate Liberty. It is evident we must be our own representatives and advocates, not exclusively, but peculiarly—not distinct from, but in connection with our white friends. In the grand struggle for liberty and equality now waging, it is meet, right and essential that there should arise in our ranks authors and editors, as well as orators, for it is in these capacities that the most permanent good can be rendered to our cause.
Hitherto the immediate victims of slavery and prejudice, owing to various causes, have had little share in this department of effort: they have frequently undertaken, and almost as frequently failed. This latter fact has often been urged by our friends against our engaging in the present enterprise; but, so far from convincing us of the impolicy of our course, it serves to confirm us in the necessity, if not the wisdom of our undertaking. That others have failed, is a reason for our earnestly endeavoring to succeed. Our race must be vindicated from the embarrassing imputations resulting from former non-success. We believe that what ought to be done, can be done. We say this, in no self-confident or boastful spirit, but with a full sense of our weakness and unworthiness, relying upon the Most High for wisdom and strength to support us in our righteous undertaking. We are not wholly unaware of the duties, hardships and responsibilities of our position. We have easily imagined some, and friends have not hesitated to inform us of others. Many doubtless are yet to be revealed by that infallible teacher, experience. A view of them solemnize, but do not appal us. We have counted the cost. Our mind is made up and we are resolved to go forward.
In aspiring to our present position, the aid of circumstances has been so strikingly apparent as to almost stamp our humble aspirations with the solemn sanctions of a Divine Providence. Nine years ago, as most of our readers are aware, we were held as a slave, shrouded in the midnight ignorance of that internal system—sunken in the depths of servility and degradation—registered with four footed boasts and creeping things—regarded as property—compelled to toil without wages—with a heart swollen with bitter anguish—and a spirit crushed and broken. By a singular combination of circumstances we finally succeeded in escaping from the grasp of the man who claimed us as his property, and succeeded in safely reaching New Bedford, Mass. In this town we worked three years as a daily laborer on the wharves. Six years ago we became a Lecturer on Slavery. Under the apprehension of being re-taken into bondage, two years ago we embarked for England. During our stay in that country, kind friends, anxious for our safety, ransomed us from slavery, by the payment of a large sum. The same friends, as unexpectedly as generously, placed in our hands the necessary means of purchasing a printing press and printing materials. Finding ourself now in a favorable position for aiming an important blow at slavery and prejudice, we feel urged on in our enterprise by a sense of duty to God and man, firmly believing that our effort will be crowned with entire success.
TO OUR OPPRESSED COUNTRYMEN
We solemnly dedicate the "North Star" to the cause of our long oppressed and plundered fellow countrymen. May God bless the offering to your good! It shall fearlessly assert your rights, faithfully proclaim your wrongs, and earnestly demand for you instant and even-handed justice. Giving no quarter to slavery at the South, it will hold no truce with oppressors at the North. While it shall boldly advocate emancipation for our enslaved brethren, it will omit no opportunity to gain for the nominally free, complete enfranchisement. Every effort to injure or degrade you or your cause—originating wheresoever, or with whomsoever—shall or find in it a constant, unswerving and inflexible foe.
We shall energetically assail the ramparts of Slavery and Prejudice, be they composed of church or state, and seek the destruction of every refuge of lies, under which tyranny may aim to conceal and protect itself.
Among the multitude of plans proposed and opinions held, with reference to our cause and condition, we shall try to have a mind of our own, harmonizing with all as far as we can, and differing from any and all where we must, but always discriminating between men and measures. We shall cordially approve every measure and effort calculated to advance your sacred cause, and strenuously oppose any which in our opinion may tend to retard its program. In regard to our position, on questions that hare unhappily divided the friends of freedom in this country, we shall stand in our paper where we have ever stood on the platform. Our views written shall accord with our views spoken, earnestly seeking peace with all men, when it can be secured without injuring the integrity of our movement, and never shrinking from conflict or division when summoned to vindicate truth and justice.
While our paper shall be mainly Anti-Slavery, its columns shall be freely opened to the candid and decorous discussion of all measures and topics of a moral and humane character, which may serve to enlighten, improve, and elevate mankind. Temperance, Peace, Capital Punishment, Education,—all subjects claiming the attention of the public mind may be freely and fully discussed here.
While advocating your rights, the North Star will strive to throw light on your duties: while it will not fail to make known your virtues, it will not shun to discover your faults. To be faithful to our foes it must be faithful to ourselves, in all things.
Remember that we are one, that our cause is one, and that we must help each other, if we would succeed. We have drank to the dregs the bitter cup of slavery; we have worn the heavy yoke; we have sighed beneath our bonds, and writhed beneath the bloody lash;—cruel mementoes of our oneness are indellibly marked in our living flesh. We are one with you under the ban of prejudice and proscription—one with you under the slander of inferiority—one with you in social and political disfranchisement. What you suffer, we suffer; what you endure, we endure. We are indissolubly united, and must fall or flourish together.
We feel deeply the solemn responsibility which we have now assumed. We have seriously considered the importance of the enterprise, and hare now entered upon it with full purpose of heart. We have nothing to offer in the way of literary ability to induce you to encourage us in our laudable undertaking. You will not expect or require this at our hands. The most that you can reasonably expect, or that we can safely promise, is, a paper of which you need not be ashamed. Twenty-one years of severe boundage at the South, and nine years of active life at the North, while it has afforded us the best possible opportunity for storing our mind with much practical and important information, has left us little time for literary pursuits or attainments. We have yet to receive the advantage of the first day's schooling. In point of education, birth and rank, we are one with yourselves, and of yourselves. What we are, we are not only without help, but against trying opposition. Your knowledge of our history for the last seven years makes it unnecessary for us to say more on this point. What we have been in your cause, we shall continue to be; and not being too old to learn we may improve in many ways. Patience and Perseverance shall be our motto.
We shall be the advocates of learning, from the very want of it, and shall most readily yield the deference due to men of education among us; but shall always bear in mind to accord most merit to those who have labored hardest, and overcome most, in the praiseworthy pursuit of knowledge, remembering "that the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," and that "the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak."
Brethren, the first number of the paper is before you. It is dedicated to your cause Through the kindness of our friends in England, we are in possession of an excellent printing press, types, and all other material necessary for printing a paper. Shall this gift be blest to our good, or shall it result in our injury? It is for you to say. With your aid, co operation and assistance, our enterprise will be entirely successful. We pledge ourselves that no effort on our part shall be wanting, and that no subscriber shall lose his subscription—"The North Star Shall Live."
LETTER TO HENRY CLAY.
Sir.—I have just received and read your Speech, delivered at the Mass Meeting in Lexington, Kentucky, 13th November 1847, and alter a careful and candid perusal of it, I am impressed with the desire to say a few words to you on one or two subjects which form a considerable part of that speech. You will, I am sure, pardon the liberty I take in thus publicly addressing you, when you are acquainted with the fact, that I am one of those "unfortunate victims" whose case you seem to commiserate, and have experienced the cruel wrongs of Slavery in my own person. It is with no ill will, or bitterness of spirit that I address you. My position under this government, even in the State of N. Y., is that of a disfranchised man. I can have, therefore, no political ends to serve, nor party antipathy to gratify. My "intents" are not wicked but truly charitable. I approach you simply in the character of one of the unhappy millions enduring the evils of Slavery, in this otherwise highly favored and glorious land.
In the extraordinary speech before me, after dwelling at length upon the evils, disgrace and dangers of the present unjust, mean, and iniquitous war waged by the United States upon Mexico, you disavow for yourself and the meeting, "in the most positive manner," any wish to acquire any foreign territory whatever for the purpose of introducing slavery into it. As one of the oppressed, I give you the full expression of sincere gratitude for this declaration, and the pledge which it implies, and earnestly hope that you may be able to keep your vow unsullied by compromises, (which, pardon me,) have too often marred and defaced the beauty and consistency of your humane declarations and pledges on former occasions. It is not, however, any part of my present intention to reproach you invidiously or severely for the past. Unfortunately for the race, you do not stand alone in respect to deviations from a strict line of rectitude. Poor, erring and depraved humanity, has surrounded you with a throng of guilty associates, it would not, therefore, be magnanimous in me to reproach you for the past, above all others.
Forgetting the things that are behind, I simply propose to speak to you of what you are at this time—of the errors and evils of your present, as I think, wicked position, and to point out to you the path of repentance, which if pursued, must lead you to the possession of peace and happiness, and make you a blessing to your country and the world.
In the speech under consideration, you say,
"My opinions on the subject of slavery are well known; they have the merit, if it be done, of consistency, uniformity and long duration."
The first sentence is probably true. Your opinions on slavery may be well known, but that they have the merit of consistency or of uniformity, I cannot so readily admit. If the speech before me be a fair declaration of your present opinions, I think I can convince you that even this speech abounds with inconsistencies such as materially to affect the consolation you seem to draw from this source. Indeed if you are uniform at all, you are only so in your inconsistencies.
You confess that
"Slavery is a great evil, and a wrong to its victims, and you would rejoice if not a single slave breathed the air within the limits of our country."
These are noble sentiments, and would seem to flow from a heart overborne with a sense of the flagrant injustice and enormous cruelty of slavery, and of one earnestly and anxiously longing for a remedy. Standing alone, it would seem that the author had long been in search of some means to redress the wrongs of the "unfortunate victims" of whom he speaks—that his righteous soul was deeply grieved, every hour, on account of the foul blot inflicted by this curse on his country character.
But what are the facts? You are yourself a Slaveholder at this moment, and your words on this point had scarcely reached the outer circle of the vast multitude by which you were surrounded, before you poured forth one of the most helpless, illogical, and cowardly apologies for this same wrong, and "great evil" which I ever remember to have read. Is this consistency, and uniformity? if so, the oppressed may well pray the Most High that you may be soon delivered from it.
Speaking of "the unfortunate victims" of this "great evil," and "wrong," you hold this most singular and cowardly excuse for perpetuating the wrongs of my "unfortunate" race.
"But here they are to be dealt with as well as we can, with a due consideration of all circumstances affecting the security and happiness of both races."
What do you mean by the security, safety and happiness of both races? do you mean that the happiness of the slave is augmented by his being a slave, and if so, why call him an "unfortunate victim." Can it be that this is mere cant, by which to seduce the North into your support, on the ground of your sympathy for the slave. I cannot believe you capable of such infatuation. Ido not wish to believe that you are capable of either the low cunning, or the vanity which your language or this subject would seem to imply, but will set it down to an uncontrollable conviction of the innate wickedness of slavery, which forces itself out, and defies even your vast powers of concealment.
But further, you assert,
"Every State has the supreme, uncontrolled and exclusive power to decide for itself whether slavery shall cease or continue within its limits, without any exterior intervention from any quarter."
Here I understand you to assert the most profligate and infernal doctrine, that any State in this Union has a right to plunder, scourge and enslave any part of the human family within its borders, just so long as it deems it for its interest so to do, and that no one or body of persons beyond the limits of said state has a right to interfere by word or deed against it. Is it possible that you hold this monstrous and blood-chilling doctrine? It so, what confidence can any enlightened lover of liberty place in your pretended opposition to Slavery. I know your answer to all this, but it only plunges you into lower depths of infamy than the horrible doctrines avowed above. You go on to say:
"In States where the Slaves outnumber the whites, as is the case in several [which I believe are only two out of fifteen] the blacks could not be emancipated without becoming the governing power in these states."
This miserable bug-bear is quite a confession of the mental and physical equality of the races. You pretend that you are a Republican. You loudly boast of your Democratic principles: why then do you object to the application of your principles in this case. Is the democratic principle good in one case and bad in another? Would it be worse for a black majority to govern a white minority that it now is for the latter to govern the former? But you conjure up an array of frightful objections in answer to this.
"Collisions and conflicts between the two races would be inevitable, and after shocking scenes of rapine and carnage, the extinction or expulsion of the blacks would certainly take place."
How do you know that any such results would be inevitable? Where, on the page of history, do you find anything to warrant even such a conjecture? You will probably point to the Revolution in St. Domingo, the old and thread-bare falsehood under which democratic tyrants have sought a refuge for the last forty years. But the facts in that direction are all against you. It has been dearly proven that that revolution was not the result of emancipation, but of a cruel attempt to re-enslave an already emancipated people. I am not aware that you have a single fact to support your truly terrible assertion, while on the other hand I have many all going to show what is equally taught by the voice of reason and of God, "that it is always safe to do right." The promise of God is, "that thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward: then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry and he will say, Here I am."
The history of the world is in conformity with the words of inspired wisdom. Look for instance, at the history of Emancipation in the British West Indies. There the blacks were, and still are, an overwhelming majority. Have there been any "shocking scenes of rapine and carnage, extinction or expulsion." You know there have not. Why then do you make use of this unfounded and irrational conjecture to frighten your fellow-countrymen from the righteous performance of a simple act of justice to millions now groaning in almost hopeless bondage.
I now give your argument in support of the morality of your position.
"It may be argued that, in admitting the injustice of slavery, I admit the necessity of an instantaneous reparation of that injustice. Unfortunately, however, it is not always safe, practicable or possible in the great movements of States of public affairs of nations, to remedy or repair the infliction of previous injustice. In the inception of it, we may oppose and denounce it by our most strenuous exertions, but, after its consummation, there is often no other alternative left us but to deplore its perpetration, and to acquiesce as the only alternative, in its existence, as a less evil that the frightful consequences which might ensued from the vain endeavor to repair it. Slavery is one of these unfortunate instances."
The cases which you put in support of the foregoing propositions, are only wanting in one thing, and that is analogy. The plundering of the Indians of their territory, is a crime to which no honest man can look with any degree of satisfaction. It was a wrong to the Indians then living, and how muchsoever we might seek to repair that wrong, the victims are far beyond any benefit of it; but with reference to the slave, the wrong to be repaired is a present one, the slave holder is the every day robber of the slave, of his birthright to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness—his right to be free is unquestionable—the wrong to enslave him is self evident—the duty to emancipate him is imperative. Are you aware to what your argument on this point leads? do you not plainly see that the greatest crimes that ever cursed our common earth, may take shelter under your reasoning, and may claim perpetuity on the ground of their antiquity?
Sir, I must pass over your allusions to that almost defunct and infernal scheme which you term "unmixed benevolence" for expelling not the slave but the free colored people from these United States, as well as your charge against the Abolitionists.
"It is a philanthropic and consoling reflection that the moral and physical condition of the African in the United States in a state of slavery is far better than it would have been had their ancestors not been brought from their native land."
I can scarce repress the flame of rising indignation, as I read this cold blooded and cruel sentence; there is so much of Satan dressed in the livery of Heaven, as well as taking consolation from crime, that I scarcely know how to reply to it. Let me ask you what has been the cause of the present unsettled condition of Africa? Why has she not reached forth her hand unto God? Why have not her fields been made Missionary grounds, as well as the Feejee Islands? Because of this very desolating traffic from which you seem to draw consolation. For three hundred years Christian nations, among whom we are foremost, have looked to Africa only as a place for the gratification of their lust and love of power, and every means hare been adopted to stay the onward march of civilization in that unhappy land.
Your declaration on this point, places your consolation with that of the wolf in devouring the lamb. You next perpetrate what I conceive to be the most revolting blasphemy. You say:
"And if it should be the decree of the Great Ruler of the Universe, that their descendants shall be made in instruments in his hands in the establishment of civilization and the Christian religion throughout Africa—our regrets on account of the original wrong will be greatly mitigated."
Here, Sir, you would charge home upon God the responsibility of your own crimes, and would seek a solace from the pangs of a guilty conscience by sacriligiously assuming that in robbing Africa of her children, you acted in obedience to the great purposes, and were but fulfilling the decrees of the Most High God; but as if fearing that this refuge of lies might fail, you strive to shuffle off the responsibility of this "great evil" on Great Britain. May I not ask if you were fulfilling the great purposes of God in the share you took in this traffic and can draw consolation from that alleged fact, is it honest to make England a sinner above yourselves, and deny her all the mitigating circumstances which you apply to yourselves?
You say that "Great Britain inflicted the evil upon you." If this be true, it is equally true that she inflicted the same evil upon herself; but she has had the justice and the magnanimity to repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. You copied her bad example, why not avail yourself of her good one also?
Now, Sir, I have done with your Speech, though much more might be said upon it. I have a few words to say to you personally.
I wish to remind you that you are not only in the "autumn," but in the very winter of life. Seventy-one years have passed over your stately brow. You must soon leave this world, and appear before God, to render up an account of your stewardship. For fifty years of your life you have been a slaveholder. You have robbed the laborer who has reaped down your fields, of his rightful reward. You are at this moment the robber of nearly fifty human beings, of their liberty, compelling them to live in ignorance. Let me ask if you think that God will hold you guiltless in the great day of account, if you die with the blood of these fifty slaves clinging to your garments. I know that you have made a profession of religion, and have been baptized, and am aware that you are in good and regular standing in the church, but I have the authority of God for saying that you will stand rejected at his bar, unless you "put away the evil of your doings from before his eyes—cease to do evil, and learn to do well—seek judgment, relieve the oppressed—and plead for the widow." You must "break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free," or take your place in the ranks of "evil doers," and expect to "reap the reward of corruption."
At this late day in your life, I think it would be unkind for me to charge you with any ambitious desires to become the President of the United States. I may be mistaken in this, but it seems that you cannot indulge either the wish or expectation. Bear with me, then, while, I give you a few words of further counsel, as a private individual, and excuse the plainness of one win has felt the wrongs of Slavery, and fathomed the depths of its iniquity.
Emancipate your own slaves. Leave them not to be held or sold by others. Leave them free as the Father of his country left his, and let your name go down to posterity, as his came down to us, a slaveholder, to be sure, but a repentant one. Make the noble resolve, that so far as you are personally concerned, "America shall be Free."
In asking you to do this, I ask nothing which in any degree conflicts with your argument against general emancipation. The dangers which you conjecture of the latter cannot be apprehended of the former. Your own slaves are too few in number to make them formidable or dangerous. In this matter you are without excuse. I leave you to your conscience, and your God,
And subscribe myself, Faithfully, yours, FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
NORTH STAR.
Of all the stars is this "brave old, overhanging sky," the North Star is our choice. To thousands now free in the British dominions it has been the Star or Freedom. To millions, now in our boasted land of liberty, it is the Star or Hope. Dark clouds may conceal, but cannot destroy it. Tempests may toss the sea—earthquakes convulse the globe—and storm-bolts shake the sky—it stands as firm as Heaven. Within its meek and twinkling rays, are Faith, Hope and Freedom—cherishing the one, indulging the other, and endeavoring to gain the last for our slavery smitten countrymen.
We have ventured to call our humble sheet by our favorite Star. We have been requested to change it, but as yet see no good reason for doing so. The Morning Star was suggested; the Evening Star has been named,—but the one is too early, and the other too late. The Midnight Star is our election. We are over-shadowed by gloomy clouds, and on a dark and perilous sea. We need the Polar Light to guide us into port.
SPECIMEN NUMBER.
We send this number of our paper to a great number of persons at a distance, as a Specimen number, some of whom have ordered it, and some have not. Those wishing to continue the paper will forward two dollars, otherwise it will not be sent again. Our next issue, No. 2, will be on the first Friday in January, and regularly every Friday of each week thereafter.
Geneva Choir.—We were among the thousands at the Canandaigua Celebration, who enjoyed the pleasure of listening to the spirit-stirring songs of the Geneva Choir. A recollection of the glorious effect produced by their excellent minstrelsy, leads us to extend to them a cordial invitation to be present at the Anti-Slaavery Fair to be held in this city on the 17th and 18th of the present month. We can ensure them a hospitable welcome, and an ample field in which to exert their vocal powers in behalf of Universal Liberty.
☞ We have before us, through the kindness of Mr. Harned, of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Office, New York, the able and elaborate Report of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The Report is well stored with important facts, and indicates great vigilance and application on the part of the Committee and Agents of that Society.
Rev. Charles Van Loon, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, in Poughkeepsie, died at that place on Sunday evening last, aged 28 years. He was one of the noblest men we ever knew—eloquent, able, pious, and devoted heart and soul to the good of his fellow men. The Temperance Cause had no more effective advocate, and he had just returned from a lecturing tour in Ohio and the broad West, where he had done a great work for Humanity. As a friend of the down-trodden African Race, he had been eminent and untiring; and in every good work, (so far as it seemed such to him) he labored earnestly and ungrudgingly. He was buried on Wednesday from his father's in Albany.—Ought such a man to pass away without a memoir?—Tribune.
The announcement above has overshadowed our spirit with a cloud of melancholy. We were personally acquainted with Charles Van Loon. We became so on this very Western tour, and never was our heart more warmly attached to any man, on so short an acquaintaince. He was not as is above stated, Pastor of a Presbyterian, but a Baptist Church, in Poughkeepsie. He was one of the noble few who dared to separate from the Triennial Convention, and to join the cause of Free Missions, that he might not stain soul by fellowshipping with men-stealers.
A SISTER RESCUED FROM SLAVERY.
There has just left our office, an amiable, kind, and intelligent looking young woman, about eighteen years of age, on her way from slavery. A rehearsal of her sad story thrilled us with emotions which we lack words to express. On her right arm between her wrist and elbow, the initials of the name of her infernal master, is cut in large capitals. Oh! the wretch!
☞ Read and attend to the notice of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society.
Let the Meeting be a general rally of the anti-slavery friends throughout Western New York.
Now, while Slavery is gathering her tens of thousands, to fight a base and fiend-like war; while the treasure of the professed freemen of the north is pouring out by millions, to give vigor to the bloody struggle; while the voice is going forth from pulpit and press, that "our country, right or wrong, must be supported;" while the press is teeming with praises of the leaders of Slavery's legions, who are now pursuing a career of robbery and wrong in Mexico; while the Mexican can truly say,—
Hearken! up the Rio Bravo comes the negro-catcher's shout; Listen! 'tis the Yankee's hammer forging human fetters out;—
it is indeed a time when the friends of freedom should come together, filled with zeal for the holy cause, and raise a voice of warning and rebuke.
The corrupt political parties are shaking and trembling before the anti-slavery agitation; the time-serving church, with not enough of inherent virtue to be first pure and then peaceable, is vainly seeking for peace which it can never gain in its false and miserable position. If we will but persevere to the end, victory is ours. Let us then gather by thousands, not to build up a political party or nominate candidates for political office, but to stir up each other's minds to remembrance of the captive,—to listen to the voices of the true-hearted, and to arm ourselves anew from Heaven's own armory with the weapons of Truth and Love.—S.
SAMUEL BROOKS.
This indefatigable friend of humanity has, in consequence of the impaired state of his health, resigned his office of General Agent for the American Antislavery Society in the West. The labors of this friend during the past summer have been of the most arduous and wearing nature—enough we should think to shatter a stronger constitution than his. He will carry into (what we hope will be a transient) retiracy, the gratitude of all those who know how to appreciate pure and disinterested labors, and his re-appearance in the field will be looked for with anxious solitude.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
H. C., of Upton, Massachusetts. His letter came safely to hand. For its list of subscribers and encouraging words, he will please accept out grateful thanks.
Z. W. H., of Plymouth Massachusetts. We acknowledge, with much satisfaction, the receipt of her communication, with its long array of patrons and cash accompaniment, which is indeed a tangible demonstration. Her efforts in behalf of the North Star are gratefully appreciated.
R. F. W., Boston, of November 17th, received and credited.
D. J., of Columbus, Ohio, is informed, that our engagements will not allow us to be present at the anticipated Convention to be held in Columbus. The other matters are attended to.
S. B., of Salem, Ohio. We thank him for his letters and list of Subscribers.
N. and D. shall receive the per-centage suggested.
H. E. S., of Lodi, Ohio. Thanks for your words of cheer, so kindly expressed. We shall be glad to hear from the same source often.
M. A. T., New Brighton, Pennsylvania. A long list of Subscribers and words of God-speed from this zealous friend. Thanks—thanks.
M. H., of Albany, New York. Our acknowledgments for the good work there commenced.
FREE PAPERS.
We give to our readers the evidence of our right to be free in this democratic and Christian country—not so much however to establish our right to ourself as to expose the cold-blooded Methodist man-stealer, who claimed us as his property, and the hypocritical nation that has sanctioned his infamous claim. We shall send him a copy of this paper.
"Know all men by these Presents, That I, Thomas Auld, of Talbot County, and State of Maryland, for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred dollars, current money to me paid by Hugh Auld of the city of Baltimore, in the said state, at and before the sealing and the delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof, I, the said Thomas Auld, do hereby acknowledge, have granted, bargained, and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargain, and sell unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors, administrators, and assigns, one negro man, by the name of Frederick Baily, or Douglass, as he calls himself—he is now about twenty-eight year: of age—to have and to hold the said negro man for life. And I, the said Thomas Auld for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, all and singular, the said Frederick Baily, alias Douglass, unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors, administrators, and assigns, against me, the said Thomas Auld my executors, and administrators, and against all and every other person or persons whatsoever, shall and will warrant and forever defend by these presents. In witness whereof, I set my hand and seal, this thirteenth day of November, eighteen hundred and forty-six. THOMAS AULD.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Wrightson Jones,
John C. Leas."
The authenticity of this Bill of Sale is attested by N. Harrington, a Justice of the Peace of the State of Maryland and for the county of Talbot, dated same day as above.
"To all whom it may concern: Be it known, that I, Hugh Auld, of the city of Baltimore, in Baltimore county, in the State of Maryland, for divers good causes and considerations, me thereunto moving, have released from slavery, liberated, manumitted, and set free, and by these presents do hereby release from slavery, liberate, manumit, and set free, my negro man, named Frederick Baily, otherwise called Douglass, being of the age of twenty-eight years, or thereabouts, and able to work and gain a sufficient livelihood and maintainance; and him the said negro man, named Frederick Baily, otherwise called Frederick Douglass, I do declare to be henceforth free, manumitted, and discharged from all manner of servitude to me, my executors, and administrators forever.
In witness whereof, I the said Hugh Auld, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the fifth of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six. HUGH AULD.
Sealed and delivered in presence of T. Hanson Belt,
James N. S. T. Wright"
The attestation of this Deed of Manumission is signed by T. Hanson Belt, a Justice of the Peace of the State of Maryland, in and for the city of Baltimore, dated on the day and year aforesaid.
Note.—Some time previous to the date of his legal freedom, it appears that Frederick Douglass had been transferred, as a little token of fraternal affection, from one brother to the other. But before Hugh Auld could lawfully execute a deed for F. D.'s manumission, it became necessary that he should show how he had obtained him. Hence the "Bill of Sale," already quoted.
As the phrase "for divers good causes and considerations, me thereunto moving," may appear to some a little mysterious, the following is annexed by way of explanation:
"Baltimore, December, 12, 1846.
Received from —— ———, of —— ——, by the hands of —— ———, the sum of seven hundred and eleven dollars and ninety-six cents, in full of the consideration of a certain Deed of Manumission of a negro man known by the name of Frederick Baily, otherwise Douglass, formerly my slave for life, bearing date on the fifth of December, eighteen hundred and forty-six. HUGH AULD.
—English Paper.
From the Liberator. CURIOSITIES OF VOTING.
The following letter and the annexed ticket explain themselves. The author is one of our most valuable friends in that quarter. In a private note accompanying the communication, he informs us that "this movement was the result of Friend Foster's teaching, when here last winter. He says that twenty-three of these votes were polled, although "quite a number stayed at home." Of this number was our correspondent.—We quite agree with him, that while we do not approve of the policy of expending Anti-Slavery time and strength in this direction, we can not rebuke those that do, with a rebuke bestowed on other voters under a pro-slavery Constitution. We still hold however to the faith that the circumstance that the party voted for will not accept the offices, under oath to rapport the Constitution, if elected, does not alter the character of the act of voting. Voting is a constitutional act as much as holding office. It exists only through the Constitution, and we can perceive no essential difference between the one act and the other.
the letter.
Upton, Nov. 10, 1847.
Friend Quincy:
I take the liberty to forward you a political curiosity—thrown up upon the sarface of that sea, whose waters foam and rage with such violence every second Monday in November. Although nothing but drift-wood, it yet deserves to be gathered up, and preserved as one of those specimens of lusus suffragii, calculated to rival any lusus naturæ, which has yet happened in the physical world. To those who have had an opportunity to examine it carefully, it is an object of wonder and apprehension. It is thought to have some of the characteristics of the torpedo, with this difference, that its electrical influence is felt only by the former. What particular elements in their mental or physical conformation, are the basis of such a phenomenon, a deeper philosophy than mine must determine. I hope you will favor your readers with a view of it, in order that they may analyze its structure, so that each one may be persuaded in his own mind, what manner of thing it is. C.
the ticket:
For Governor—W. L. Garrison. For Lieut. Governor—Francis Jackson. For Senators—Adin Ballou, of Milford. John M. Fisk, of Brookfield. Stephen S. Foster, of Worcester. Effingham S. Capron, of Uxbridge. J. T. Everett, of Princeton.
Deshong, the Mathematician.
The following letter from this famous "cypherer" has been sent to the papers:
Perhaps you have noticed in some of the New York papers, a statement concerning "the remarkable powers of a mathematician" in that city, who adds, subtracts, multiplies, divides, and performs all other mathematical operations with a rapidity that seems almost miraculous. As I am that person, I will endeavor to give you a correct statement of the facts;
First, let a column of figures, 5000 in length, and 10 or 2O in breadth, be set before me, and in less than five seconds of time, I will give the sum total, always commencing on the left hand side to place the answers down. It matters not what length the column is, or what breadth, I will give the sumtotal as fast as the figures can he written down.
Second, let a sum be written in multiplication, with 1000 figures in the multiplier, and as many in the multiplicand, and I will commence on the left hand, and write the product underneath, and in one line, as fast as the figures can be written down.
Third, let a sum be written in division, with any large amount for a divisor, and I commence writing down the remainder first, then the quotient. Interest at any per cent, can also be performed in the same manner, without any extra figures. Fractions of every denomination, can be summed up instantly, without reducing them to a common denominator.
These rules can he learned in one half hour, by any person having the printed instructions. Any person wishing these rules, will enclose ten dollars through the New York post-office.—Please forward me one paper which contains this, and on the receipt thereof, I will forward you a full set of these rules, gratis, by which you can become as expert in figures, as I am.
Your obedient servant, PETER M. DESHONG, Mathematician.
P. S. Editors copying the above, and forwarding to Mr. Deshong the paper which contains it, will be furnished with a full set of rules.
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
DEATH OF DAVID SCOVILLE.
We publish below the proceedings of a meeting on the death of David Scoville, Esq. held by the Trustees of the Savings Bank at their banking house in this city, on Saturday morning, the 27th ult. William Pitkin Esq. President of the Board took the chair, and George H. Hungerford Esq. was appointed Secretary.
Mr. Pitkin the President arose, and addressed the Board in the feeling manner found in the proceedings. We fully condole in common with the rest of our citizens, the loss of so excellent a man as Mr. Scoville, as we learn that in addition to other prominent virtues, he was a known friend to the colored people.—Eds. North Star.
Gentleman: This special meeting of the Board of Trustees is occasioned by the sudden and lamented death of David Scoville, Esq., the Secretary of this Institution. His death occured in this room yesterday about half past three o'clock P. M., after a brief illness of about three hours.
By this afflictive dispensation of Providence, the Rochester Savings Bank is deprived of a trustworthy and vigilant officer, who has acted as its Secretary from its first organization in the year 1831, and has discharged his responsible duties with great fidelity, and in perfect confidence of all interested.
To us individually who have been so long and intimately associated with him in the management of the delicate and important interests connected with this institution—and have likewise known him as an exemplary Christian and respected citizen; his sudden removal by death can not but be long and deeply lamented.
A bereavement so distressing to the widow and relations of the deceased demands our sincere condolence and sympathies, and at the same time solemnly admonishes us anew to prepare for own last change, that we too may pass from a christian's life through the gates of death to the christian's immortality.
Isaac Hills Esq. then offered the following lowing resolutions, after prefacing the same with some appropriate remarks.
The resolutions were adopted unanimously.
Resolved, That in the sudden and unexpected death of David Scoville Esq., ​the Secretary of this Institution, its trustees and other officers with whom he was in daily intercourse and communication are especially reminded "that in the midst of life we are in death," and forcibly taught "what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue."
Resolved, That in this afflictive dispensation of Providence, the community have to mourn the loss of one of their most excellent, worthy, and useful citizens, and the officers of this institution, a friend and an associate, who had by a long course of fidelity in his official position won their unqualified approbation of him as an officer, and by his amiable and courteous deportment in all his intercourse with them, their respect for him as a man.
Resolved, That we sincerly sympathize with the widow of our deceased friend and associate in her sudden and irreparable bereavement, and knowing how poor a solace in her affliction must be all consolation derived from earth, we commend her and her child, to a Power above, who though he afflicts, has promised to be their friend.
Resolved, As a further testimony of our respect for the memory and our regret for the loss occasioned by the so sudden decease of our friend, and of our sympathy with his bereaved family, we will attend his funeral in a body, wearing crape upon the left arm.
Resolved, That the President's address, together with the foregoing resolutions be entered on the minutes of this board, and that the clerk furnish a copy to be signed by the President and Secretary pro tem., and transmitted to the family of the deceased, and a copy for insertion in the city newspapers.
William Pitkin, President, Geo. H. Mumford, Sec'y.
PERILOUS RUN-OFF.
Quite an excitement in the neighborhood of the Bridge on Buffalo Street, was created on Monday afternoon, by the running off of a horse—a buggy being attached, and a boy driving. The animal took fright, running off Buffalo Street into an alley in the rear of the machine mills adjoining the bridge, turning into a small alley which leads into the river, plunging full force into the water, when horse, buggy, and boy were washed by the threatening current of the dashing Genesee down the stream. Having presence of mind, the boy caught the pier or base of the butment as he passed, and holding on, was thus snatched from a watery grave.
From the Detroit Free Press—Extra. FULL PARTICULARS OF THE BURNING OF THE PROPELLER PHŒNIX.
We have the painful news of the destruction of the Propeller Phoenix, together with upwards of 200 passengers, of which one hundred and fifty were Hollanders, on their way to settle in the west.
This melancholy news we get from the Engineer, who returned to this city on board the Delaware this day.
The Phœnix was bound up, and Sunday morning fast about 4 o'clock, when within 15 miles of Sheybogan, she was discovered to be on fire. After finding it impossible to extinguish the fire, and that all who remained on board would perish in the flames, many jumped overboard to save themselves as best they could.
About thirty got into the small boats many were picked up by the Delaware, which hove in sight after the Phœnix was in flames, hut not in time to render any assistance to those who remained on board, or were unable to get into the small boats
The engineer furnished us the names of those known to have been lost, and who he recollected by name.
Mr. West, lady and child, Racine. Mr. Fisk and lady, Mrs. Heath and sister, Little Fort, Mrs. Long and child, Milwaukee, J. Burroughs, Chicago, D. Blish, Southport, Two Misses Hazelton, Sheybogan, About twenty-five other cabin and five steerage passengers; together with one hundred and fifty Hollanders.
Of the officers and crew were lost—
D. W. Keller, steward, Cleveland, J. C. Smith, saloon keeper, Buffalo, N. Merrill, 2d mate, Ohio City, W. Owen, 2d engineer, Toledo, H. Robinson, 1st fireman, Buffalo, Deck Hands—T. Halsey, T. Ferteau, River St. Clair; J. Murdock, A. Murdock, Canada; George ———, Cabin boy—H. Tisdale, of Cleveland; body found, Wheelsman—L. Southworth, New Bedford. Two colored cooks, Detroit.
The names of those saved are—
Capt. Sweet, Ohio City, Clerk—Donihue, River St. Clair, Engineer, M. W. House, Cleveland, 1st Mate, H. Watts, Cleveland, Wheelsman—A. G Kelso, Ohio City, Deck Hand—J. Moon, Cleveland, Fireman—Michael O'Brien, Buffalo, 2 Porter—R. Watts, Cleveland.
The Phœnix had the largest load of passengers and freight she could carry.
The loss of life above is the largest which ever occurred on the lakes, and the property lost is immense.
It is supposed that those 150 Hollanders had considerable money with them, as they were seeking a location in the west; but how uncertain is life! It is indeed mournful to record this sad catastrophe.
From the Cleveland Herald. additional particulars.
We have conversed with Mr. M. W. House, engineer of the Phœnix, and from him received the following particulars in addition to those furnished by the Free Press.
The fire was discovered under deck, near the hark end of the boiler, and all possible means used to extinguish it, but without success. The two small boats were lowered away and instantly filled with those who escaped. Capt. Sweet, who had been confined to his state-room, one wheelsman and one deck hand were in one of the boats; the 1st mate, one fireman and 2d porter in the other; the balance of the load were chiefly Hollanders.
Mr. Donihoe, Clerk, Mr. House engineer, and one passenger, Mr. J. Lang, were all what were taken from the water alive. Donihoe and Lang were found under the stern, clinging to the wheels and the engineer on a float about 50 rods from the wreck. Those who were saved were taken up by the propeller Delaware, which was at anchor off Sheboygan at the time the fire commenced. The Delaware towed the wreck, which was completely gutted into Sheboygan, where it now lays aground. Much credit is due to Capt Tuttle and the crew of the Delaware for the prompt and humane assistance rendered by them on the occasion, and for the kind treatment extended to the sufferers whilst on their passage down.
SOME FACTS.
Looking over some calculations on the Census, of 1840, we found these results:
slaves—for every hundred whites.
| South Carolina has | 145 |
| Mississippi, | 109 |
| Florida, | 92 |
| Alabama, | 75 |
| Georgia, | 69 |
| Virginia, | 66 |
| North Carolina, | 50 |
| Kentucky, | 31 |
| Tennesee, | 28 |
| Maryland, | 28 |
| Arkansas, | 26 |
| Missouri, | 18 |
| The whole slave States number | 55 |
The staves are chieflly centered in the planting regions. You may find 2000 slaves in parts of South Carolina, to 100 whites—on the other hand there are districts having but few bond, In the low lands of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and in Florida and Louisiana negroes abound; in the hill country, or upland region they are limited in numbers. The same holds true of Mississippi, Tennessee, &c. But in East Tennessee, Western Virginia, &c., slavery is nominal. To make this subject plain let us arrange a table:
| North Alabama, | of population, | 30 per cent. |
| South Alabama, | do, | 49 per cent. |
| East Tennessee, | do. | 8 per cent. |
| West Tennessee, | do. | 48 per cent. |
The white population of Western Virginia is as large as Eastern. Yet Western has 56 representatives in the Legislature—Eastern 78!!! Indeed the apportionments of nearly all the Southern States, retain the power of these States in the hands of slave-holders.
From the Rochester Daily Advertiser.
HENRY CLAY ON SLAVERY.
The oracle of the Whigs has spoken; and "the Presidential question is settled," say his idolaters; at least so said they upon the reception of his Lexington Resolutions, although the telegraphic notice of his speech gave ominous presage that everything was not exactly "according to Gunter;" as we were told, that when he came to the Slavery question, "here the wires did'nt seem to work well;" and we were referred to the speech itself, which would be forthcoming in due time. In the interim, however, the Whig press shout loud hosannas, and attempt to Roarback the people into the notion, that Clay has come out upon Anti-Slavery ground; or is up "neck and neck" with the Wilmot proviso—that is, that he would interdict slavery in any new territory which might be acquired. Such a representation is a swindle and a fraud. Henry Clay totally avoids that issue, and sneaks behind the position of "no more territory," which he and every man knows to be a false issue; and under the circumstances of the case, an absurdity.
But let us hear the "great western." He says, "We disclaim in the most positive manner any desire on our part to acquire any foreign territory whatever for the purpose of introducing slavery into it. I do not know that any citizen of the United States entertains such a wish." This is the wonderful and "positive" disclaimer which has so inflated the Whigs, and has made Henry Clay President of the United States! A disclaimer, to which, upon Mr. Clay's own showing, every man in the South can subscribe. He, in short, endorses and defends the whole south from the charge of desiring territory "for the purpose" of extending Slavery. Yet Mr. Clay knew, and we all know, that these same men, millions of them, would move heaven and earth to prevent the passage of the Wilmot Proviso. They are determined to have territory, and Mr. Clay knew it. They are determined that there shall be no interdiction of slavery therein, and he also knew that. Is it any thing else than a pettifogging quibble, for him to disclaim for them and him, that they want territory "for the purpose" of extending slavery. If it is notorious that the south are determined to fight over the Missouri question again about this new territory, what care we for ten thousand disclaimers from Clay, Calhoun & Co., that slavery is not "the purpose" for which they want the territory. Has Mr. Clay come upon the republican ground of "Free labor upon free soil!" He has never approached the thought in his whole speech. Does he say any thing that looks like favoring a Wilmot Proviso? Let me quote the Wilmot Proviso: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any territory hereafter acquired by the United States." Nothing like this appears in the speech, and to pretend that Mr. Clay favors such an idea is a gross fraud upon the people.
Does Mr. Clay profess any change of opinion on Slavery? So far from it, he refers to his past history and publicly expressed opinions, and claims that they have at least the merit of "consistency, uniformity, and long duration." On his own showing, Henry Clay, the author of the Missouri compromise, is "the same old coon." P.
For the North Star. THE DYING SLAVE.
See the Slave in a dying hour. What hope—what consolation? If he be a valuable slave, he may receive medical aid and attention, from the same motive that prompts men to take care of a sick (valuable) horse. You may hear the master say, "I should hate to lose him, he is worth $700 cash, and I lost a fine fellow last week." But who cares for the immortal soul? Who sits by his pallet of straw, and points him to Jesus of Nazareth, "who taketh away the sins of the world—who changeth the leopard's spots, and maketh the Ethiop white?" Does the master leave his bed of down, and enter the miserable hut of the slave, and tell him that Jesus is no respecter of persons of condition, but made of one flesh all the nations of the earth? Does the mistress accompany her husband, and with all the tenderness which the female heart can exhibit, urge the dying chattel to be reconciled to his God? Do you think, young woman, you who cannot endure the presence of a colored man, even on a rail-road car, do you think that the daughter of the slaveholder, (who boasts of her fortune in human flesh,) leaves the social circle—gay companions—the fascinating dance—the midnight revel—to pray and weep with the dying slave?—Like a brute we compel him to live—like a brute he dies! and his blood is upon us, and will be upon our children, unless we do our duty as men and as christians.—J. V.
IMMIGRATION TO THE WEST INDIES.
We take the following from the Annual Report of the committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. It shows the necessity of keeping a sharp look-out over those in whose bosoms the haven of slavery has once had a place:
The Committee have frequently of late had to call attention to the mode of supplying the British colonies with foreign laborers, as unjust in principle, unwise in policy, and both inhuman and immoral in its character and tendencies. It should however be distinctly understood that they have never opposed the introduction of immigrants into the colonies, provided the conditions of such immigration were equitable and humane. All that they have required has been that the immigrants should be introduced either at their own expense, or at the expense of those requiring their services; that there should be an equality of the sexes in the immigrants imported; that the immigrants should be free to choose their employers and employments, on their arrival in the colonies; and that as perfect liberty of action should be secured to them as to any other class of the laboring population in the colonies. Instead of this, however, the immigrants except in comparatively few instances, are introduced at the public expense, the emancipated laborers being taxed heavily for this purpose; that the number of males introduced have been in the proportion of ten to one of females; that practically they have no liberty of choice, but are distributed according to the will of the colonial agents, or the wishes of the planters; and they are brought under a system of laws which reduces them to a species of semi-slavery, from which few have the means of escape, at least for five years.
Under the various schemes of immigration which have obtained at Mauritius, there have been introduced, from the year 1834 to 1846, inclusive, no less than 85,000 Coolies, chiefly males, besides several thousands of Malgaches, Chinese, Johannese, and others. Into British Guiana there have been imported, during the same period, of Africans, Coolies, Portuguese, Germans, and others, 33,000; whilst into Jamaica and Trinidad it is not improbable that 26,000 at least have found their way. Yet, owing to the fearful mortality which has occurred, the termination of indentures and contracts, and the return of immigrants to their homes, the cry for fresh immigrants is as loud as ever; and the resources of these colonies are drained to the uttermost to meet the demand, and are even put in pledge for years to come, as in the case of British Guiana and Trinidad, to repay capital and interest, in loans, to be raised for this particular purpose; whilst in Mauritius, funds that were specially devoted to public works, amounting to £300,000, have been misappropriated to immigration, with no prospect of their ever being repaid.
It is now clear however that two sources on which the Government and planters principally depended for a supply of laborers to the three colonies of Jamaica, British Guiana, and Trinidad have either failed, or are too costly to be kept open. The liberated Africans at Sierra Leone, with the exception of those who have recently been captured, refuse to leave that colony; and the expense connected with immigrants from British India is found to be too heavy for the colonies to bear. The Committee expect therefore that when the present season has passed, and the 16,000 Coolies promised have reached those colonies, there will be an end of that kind of immigration to the West Indias.
To meet the loss of supplies from the quarters indicated, the Goverment on the pressing solicitations of the West India body, have determined upon obtaining laborers from the Kroo Coast, Western Africa, and by way of experiment, have fitted up one of H. M. steam-vessels, the Growler, to go thither, and have appointed agents on the coast, to engage and superintend the shipment of Kroomen for Guiana and Trinidad. The Committee have felt it to be their duty earnestly to protest against this new scheme. First, because the Kroo coast is not under British jurisdiction or control; secondly, because the agents are to be paid head-money for obtaining the Kroomen; thirdly, because the Kroomen are, if not absolutely slaves, under the dominion of their headmen or chiefs, so that they can not act as free agents; fourthly, because they will not be permitted by their chiefs to take their wives and families with them; and fifthly, because it will afford a most pernicious example to foreign states, having slave colonies or territories to supply themselves with laborers nominally free, but really slaves, and thereby give a new stimulus to the slave-trade, with all its manifold horrors.
The Committee feel that this important subject demands the most serious attention of British abolitionists, and they hope will meet with their most strenuous opposition.
THE EAGLE ABROAD.
American Liberty.—American Eggs.—The American Eagle—the bird of Liberty—lays rotten eggs. This filthy fact is made evident by a letter written to the New York National Anti-Slavery Standard, by Frederick Douglass. He and Mr. Garrison lately proceeded as far as Harrisburg, to preach liberty to the benighted citizens of the freest nation of the earth; and their arguments were met with foul eggs, crackers, and brickbats—the arguments of the good and wise!
"I spoke only a few moments, when through the windows was poured a volley of unmerchantable eggs, scattering the contents on the desk in which I stood, and upon the wall behind me, and filling the room with the most disgusting and stifling stench."
Sweet odors, consecrated to the altar of Liberty, by free men! But the sacrifice was not completed—for pyrotechnic science bestowed "a pack of crackers;" and other worshippers at the shrine of Freedom offered, not frankincense or myrrh, but "cayenne pepper and Scotch snuff," that "produced their natural results among the audience!" And then arose a triumphant shout—"Throw out the nigger! Throw out the nigger!" And thereupon the "nigger," leaving the room, and gaining the street, there followed a shower of "stones and brickbats;" which are arguments so ready-made, and generally so easily obtained, that neither fool nor knave need be without them.
When Franklin was consulted about the design for the American insignia, he gave his veto against the proposed Eagle. It was a rascally, thievish, carrion bird, he said; and was unworthy of a free people. The Americans, however, as is proved in our time, knew better. They felt that the Eagle would very admirably typify the spirit of American Liberty. The Eagle steals her prey; America steals her blacks. The eagle will feed upon human flesh; so does America—that is, if the flesh have within it any negro blood. The eagle—that is, the free American Eagle, lays putrid eggs; nought wholesome, nought vital is produced from them. They are foul things, fit for no service. Oh, yes! They are arguments, strongest arguments against the liberty of the black—sweetest incense in the nostrils of the free white!—Punch.
LETTER FROM GEORGIA.
The following is from the pen of a correspondent of the Rochester American, supposed to be the former S—F., and shows to what servility and meanness a northern man will stoop to secure the favor of southern men-stealers.
That Georgia has more miles of rail-road in operation, than any other state in the Union may be true—we think it may be fairly doubted. He says, "The happiest people I see here are the negroes." We hardly know how to receive this—one thing we know is that if the slaves are the happiest, the masters must be in a most wretched condition!
"Georgia has more miles of railway now in operation than any other State in the Union. Indeed her citizens display far more enterprise than I expected to find when I left Rochester. There are 30 cotton factories in the state, all doing a profitable business. Manufacturing is fast becoming popular, not only in Georgia and in South Carolina, whose leading men have long cherished a kind of cotton-mill phobia.—Twelve miles from Augusta, in that State, a company is now erecting a factory 250 feet in length and 50 in width, of granite, beside two other buildings, 80 feet by 40, saw-mills, dwellings, &c. &c. The concern owns 9000 acres of land, had a good water power, and will build up a flourishing village on a sterile pine plain. The name of the village is "Graniteville."
The corporation of this town has tapped the Savannah above the Falls, and dug a canal 11 miles by which a large volume of water is brought into the city, and presents to the manufacturer a fall of 30 feet. The Savannah is a large river, and of course there is no lack of power. The fourth story of a cotton-mill to drive 10,000 spindles, now approaches its completion. Slaves are not to be employed as operatives. Unfortunately there are too many poor white families at the South seeking employment. It is from this class that laborers are to be drawn without the unpleasant association of blacks.
The happiest people I see here are negroes. Whatever may be the price of cotton and corn, or the injury from the army-worm, rain, or drowth, the blacks have white men who are bound by law to feed, clothe, and house them in exchange for a very small service. Thousands of planters are kept poor because their slaves consume more than they earn.
The most remarkable feature in southern society is the extreme reluctance with which men sell a portion of their slaves, when the number is plainly too large for a plantation of poor land. All suffer together rather than divide, and sever the strong tie of family attachment. In nine cases out of ten, it is the whites, the masters, who feel the evil of slavery, not their happy, laughing, dancing, healthy servants. The rapidity with which they multiply is a caution to those who have no particular affection for the race. The millions of negroes in the United States, one of these days, may be troublesome, whether bond or free.—I could wish that measures were taken to educate them in slave as well as in free states. Had the abolitionists not interferred in the matter, by this time schools for children of color would have been quite as common here as schools for white children. The advantages of the latter arc nothing in comparison with those of the children of the state of New York.—There are many slaves however, who are taught to read and write—the law to the contrary notwithstanding. I have just been shown a written letter from the pen of a girl eighteen years old, who is an educated slave. Her mistress taught her. As the whites rise in civilization, intellectual and moral improvement, they elevate all their servants in an equal ratio. Intelligence and good habits are easily and naturally acquired by children in good society. Place them from infancy to manhood in the society of the ignorant and depraved, and it will be something akin to a miracle if they are better than their instructors.
The sparseness of the settlements at the South, and its poor lands are the great barriers to the general and thorough education of the masses, who must elevate the blacks by their example. The building up of numerous villages of intelligent mechanics, and the creation of markets for fruits, vegetables, milk, butter, cheese, fresh meats, &c. demanding a large number of laborers to cultivate in gardens, and many acres of land, is the way to lay the foundation for good schools, libraries, lyceums, churches, lectures, newspapers, and all the other means and agents for the social, moral, and intellectual advancement of our race. It is not for me to reproach any people for their ignorance and low standard of physical comfort, who from their birth upward have never had a fair opportunity to be better informed.—Give to the children of the South all the social, intellectual, and other advantages possessed by the most favored of the free states, and you will see in twenty-five years a perfect change of opinion on many vital questions. The southern heart is right, and its head is beginning to look and travel in the same direction.
There are too many of the more ignorant people of this quarter of the Union who sustain the administration in its mad idea of conquering and holding as American territory all Mexico. If the scheme shall carry, it will be found that not a slave state can be found west of the Rio-Grande—all will be free. What will the South gain? L.
Ignorance in Alabama.—Such is the title of an article in the Southern (Alabama) Advocate, on the subject of popular education, in the course of which the following statement is made, founded upon the census of 1840:
"By that document, we find that the white population of the State then amounted to about three hundred and thirty-five thousand, (335,185,) and that, of these, the number over twenty-one years of age alone who could neither read nor write amounted to upwards of twenty-two thousand, (22,592!) Twenty-two thousand citizens in a Republican State, who could not read the charter of their liberties! Twenty-two thousand in a Christian land, to whom the Scriptures, the guide of moral conduct, were as much a sealed book as to the unhappy beings in the darkest regions of Paganism! These are astounding facts—they are disgraceful—they are mournful."
By referring to the census, it will be found that the number of white persons in Alabama over twenty years of age was 130,897. The fair estimate, then, is, that almost one in every five adult white persons in Alabama in 1840 could neither read nor write! And we have the testimony of this writer, that the evil has been steadily increasing since the census was taken. He attributes it, in some cases, to the worthlessness of the school lands donated by Congress; and in others, to the neglect or mismanagement of them. The truth is, the Legislature has provided no system of public education, and the reason of this is obvious. It was stated by Senator Archer, of Virginia, in a short address delivered by him in Cincinnati, a few months ago, at the close of the annual examination of the Common Schools by which that city is adorned:
"Senator Archer," said the Cincinnati Times, "remarked, at the close of the examination, that he now saw, for the first time, evidence of the practicability of popular education. No one, (he said,) who had been so long conversant with political matters as he had, could doubt that the only safeguard of our free institutions is the diffusion of sound knowledge among the whole people. It was to him a source of deep regret that, in his own State, from the nature of its population, the establishment of a system of public schools had been impracticable."
This is the secret of it. "The nature o the population" prevents. The Plantation thins out the free white population, and what should be a school district, is occupied by a few wealthy slaveholders with hordes of slaves. To the latter, education is forbidden, and the former do not live near enough to keep up a school; and even were this not the case, their habits dispose them to employ private tutors, or send them to boarding schools, rather than suffer their children to mingle with these of the poor at a common school. But the poor alone cannot keep up schools; and thus anything like a system of popular education is effectually prevented.—Wash. Era.
From the Chronotype.
Hydropathy.—We have heretofore called the attention of our readers to the Water Cure Establishment of Dr. Ruggles in Northampton, and take pleasure in copying from the Hampshire Herald, the following very remarkable testimony to his skill and success. The Doctor, as our readers already know, is blind. He was not regularly educated to the profession, but in a man of native and good sense, and a strong, enquiring mind. By the activity of his mind his eyesight became impaired, and in his efforts to reclaim it, having suffered much of many physicians, he became totally blind.—Yet he availed himself of this greatest of earthly losses to acquire a medical education, both new in its mode and wonderful in its results. He employs that delicacy of touch which it is well known the intelligent blind always acquire, to judge of the electrical state of the skin, and upon the knowledge which this gives him of the action and obstructions of vital functions, he proceeds in his water treatment. Whatever be the thought of this theory on which Dr. Ruggles builds his practice, nothing can be more certain than his remarkable success. Some cases he rejects at once as hopeless; but when he undertakes a cure, he rarely fails to astonish and gratify the patient. The writer of the following letter, Rev. Payson Williston, is the father of Hon. Samuel Williston of East Hampton, and J. P. Williston of Northampton, well known in the annals of Massachusetts liberality. We are informed that Dr. Ruggles has prescribed for upwards of 150 persons, the past year, who have consulted him with regard to their cases, independent of these connected with his cure.
Mr. Ruggles' Water Cure.—Having experienced substantial benefit from the Cold Water system, as practiced at the Northampton Water Cure, by Dr. David Ruggles, and believing that it may be interesting to others who may be afflicted, I thought it due to the cause to request that you would favor me with a place in your paper, to make a brief statement of my case. I am 84 years of age—find with the exception of a lameness in my right leg, which was caused by an injury about forty years ago, I have enjoyed a greater degree of health than has fallen to the lot of most men. For seven years after this injury I was obliged to use two crutches; but by degrees my lameness decreased, so that I was finally enabled, with the aid of one staff, to walk comfortably a mile or two at a time. About two years ago, however, without any apparent cause, other than the infirmities of increasing age, my leg again troubled me. It became much inflamed and swollen, and at times painful.—Exercise aggravated all these bad symptoms, and though I obtained the advice of various physicians, eminent in their profession, their appliances proved useless, and some of them injurious. My limb grew worse until I was almost confined to my house, and my leg, in addition to the swelling and inflammation, assumed a dark purplish color from the knee to the ankle; the skin was almost dead, and it appeared on the point of breaking out into a running sore and I was instructed by my physicians to use palliatives, as it was believed nothing further could be done than to render me comfortable. These bad symptoms began to make their appearance above the knee, and assumed a more serious aspect, affecting my general health and appetite. In this condition I was persuaded to consult Dr. Ruggles in relation to the adaptedness of the Water Cure in my case. Alter a careful examination of my limb and the attending symptoms, by his peculiar method, he expressed his belief that water would relieve me. I immediately placed myself his care, and in less than eight weeks was entirely relieved of all pain and inflammation, and every other bad symptom, and was able to walk comfortably from three to four miles daily, with no other aid than one staff, as formerly. It is now about two months since I left the Cure, and I am still improving in strength and general health, so that I have within the past week walked two miles at one time. Payson Williston.
Easthampton, Oct. 25th, 1847.
W. C. Nell.—The following handsome compliment to our friend and co-laborer, we copy from the Liberator of Nov. 26. It is a tribute from Wendell Phillips, Esq.
Mr. Nell has left for Rochester, where he will assist in the office of the paper which Frederick Douglass is about to publish there. Those of his friends who have occasion to write to him, will please notice that his address is now, Rochester, New York.
Mr. Nell has won for himself, in his native place, an enviable character for urbanity, high moral character, and integrity above suspicion. The various associations of our colored friends for moral, literary, and social purposes, will lose in him a most efficient, devoted, and indefatigable, friend, and one whose exertions have often been the mainstay of such enterprises. He carries with him the good wishes and kind remembrance of those who have witnessed his earnest efforts to improve and elevate himself and his fellows, and his generous interest in every good cause.
Death of Dr. Hopkins.—We are pained to announce the death of Rev. Dr. Hopkins of Buffalo. This event, as we leant by A Telegraphic letter to Rev. Mr. Shaw of this city, occurred at one o'clock on Saturday morning.—Daily Dem
MISCELLANEOUS.
Novel-reading Monomaniacs.—It is a pity that the trashy literature of the day should find readers within the walls of a college; yet it is thus that some spend too much of their valuable time. As an instance of this, I am going to repeat here a great story. A graduate of Harvard told me that, during his college life, he read three thousand volumes of fiction. "Three thousand!" you exclaim; "impossible! he must have said three hundred." Three thousand, he assured me; and his veracity, is unquestionable. Nor did the evident regret with which he spoke of it admit of any motive to exaggerate. But let us see if it be, possible, and if it be, the well known mania, of novel-reading, in some persons, makes it probable. In four years, including one leap-year, there are 1461 days; he had then, to read but two volumes and a fraction daily, Sundays included. Rising early, and reading far into the night, he was able to do this. He used, he said, to run into Boston on his feet, every evening during twilight, to the book shops and circulating libraries, to return volumes and obtain others. I had thought this an unparalleled instance in the history of novel-reading—as among students I hope it is. But happening to speak of it to a friend, he mentioned the following: Being with two gentlemen at a book store in New York, at which was kept a circulating library, one of them remarked that an acquaintance of his was accustomed to read two hundred volumes of novels in a year. The other thought it incredible. The first, turning to the bookseller, asked what was the largest number of volumes drawn by one person from his library, in a year. Referring to his books he found that a certain lady had taken four hundred and fifty sets, mostly two-volumed, making about nine hundred volumes. This would amount, in four years, to 3600; so that the fair one beat the collegian by six hundred.—Recollections of College Life.
New York Canals.—Receipts from tolls on all the canals of New York since the commencement of navigation to the 7th of November, $3,352,451. Same time last year, $2,483,541.
Magnetic Telegraph.—The Agent of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, in a letter to the editor of the Mobile (Ala.) Register, states that the telegraph line between N. Orleans and Washing. will be in operation by the first of January next. It is about 1300 miles long, and much of it passes through a real wilderness —over rivers, straits and swamps.
Keep a Secret.—Anything revealed in confidence should be kept secret. There is no greater breach of good manners and Christian faith, than to reveal that which has been placed in the secrecy of your own bosom. What if the friend who once trusted you and told you the secrets of his heart, has become your enemy? You are still bound to keep your word inviolate, and preserve locked in your heart the secrets confidentially made known to you. A man of principle will never betray even an enemy. He holds it a Christian duty never to reveal what was placed in his keeping. While the Albanians were at war with Philip, King of Macedon, they intercepted a letter that the king had written to his wife, Olympia. It was returned unopened, that it might not be read in public—their laws forbidding them to reveal a secret.
Among the Egyptians, it was a criminal offence to divulge a secret. A priest who had been found guilty of this offence, was ordered to leave the country.
Have you a secret reposed in your bosoms? Reveal is not for the world. A confiding friend may tell you a hundred things, which if whispered abroad, would bring him into ridicule, and injure his character through life. No one is so upright that he may not have committed, some ungentlemanly act, or some impure offence, which may have secretly been confided to another. The fault may have been perpetrated years ago, before the individual's character was formed, and before he had a wife and children. Would it not be a profanotion of the most social duties, in a fit of anger, or out of malice or revenge, to divulge a secret like this?
A man's enemies would not care whether it was the fault of his thoughtless youth or his maturer years, so long as they could make a handle of it to his injury, and thus effect their purpose. Be careful then never under any consideration whatever, to repeat what has been whispered to you in the confidence of friendship. A betrayer of secrets is fit only for the society of the low and the vile. D. C. C.
Cure for Consumption..—An officer in the British service, resident in the East Indies, had been stricken with the fatal disease, and was reduced by it to nearly a skeleton; his friends looked upon him as a doomed man. and he himself had given up all hopes of long continuance of life. He was one morning crawling about his grounds, and accidentally went into a shed where a man had been bottling some wine, and at the moment of his master's entrance had just melted some rosin to seal the corks with. It could not be otherwise than that those within the room should inhale the smoke arising from the rosin. To the surprise of the afflicted one, his respiration became free and unobstructed, and it instantly occurred to him that the relief he experienced was produced by his having inhaled the rosinous smoke. He remained better during the day, and without consulting his doctor, repeated the experiment in his sleeping room. That night he slept soundly—a blessing he had not known for years.
Twice a day, for a week, did he continue his experiment, and with increased success. He then mentioned the affair to his medical adviser, who was equally surprised with himself at the improvement of the patient's health, and advised him to continue the inhalations night and morning.
In the space of three months his cough left him, and his appetite returned. In six months his health was so improved that he contemplated returning to his native country; he delayed, however doing so, until a year had expired. Still persisting in his new found remedy, his health was completely restored, and he was once more a sound man.
Newspapers.—A newspaper can drop the same thought into a thousand minds at the same moment. A newspaper is an adviser, who does not require to be sought, but who comes to you of his own accord, and talks to you briefly every day of the common weal, without distracting your private affairs. Newspapers, therefore, become more necessary in proportion as men become more equal, and individualism more to be feared. To suppose that they only serve to protect freedom, would be to diminish their importance: they maintain civilization.—De Tocqueville.
Eloquence.—The best style, as Coleridge has remarked, is that which forces us to think of the subject, without paying attention to the particular phrases in which it is clothed. The true excellency of style is to make us feel that words are absorbed in things, and to leave upon the mind a strong impression of the sense and the tenor of the reasoning, rather than a broken and piecemeal recollection of particular expressions and images; the result, on the contrary, if not the intention, of too much pulpit oratory, is to fill the ear with a multitude of grand terms, and bewilder the fancy with a crowd of tropes, while it is comparatively ineffectual in stamping the general argument or exhortation upon the understanding.—British Critic.
Men can be good to all.—I never yet knew any man so bad, but some have thought him honest, and afforded him love; nor ever any so good, but some have thought him evil, and hated him. Few are so stigmatical as that they are not honest to some; and few, again, are so just as that they seem not to some unequal: either the ignorance, the envy, or the partiality of those that judge, do constitute a various man. Nor can a man in himself always appear alike to all. In some, nature hath invested a disparity; in some, report hath foreblinded judgment; and in in some, accident is the cause of disposing to love or hate. Or, if not these, the variation of the bodies' humors; or, perhaps, not any of these. The soul is often led by secret motions, and loves she knows not why. There are impulsive privacies which urge us to a liking, even against the parliamental acts of the two Houses, reason, and the common sense; as if there were some hidden beauty, of a more magnetic force than all that the eye can see; and this, too, more powerful at one time than another. Undiscovered influences please us now with what we would sometimes contemn. I have come to the same man that hath now welcomed me with a free expression of love and courtesy, and another time hath left me unsaluted at all; yet, knowing him well, I have been certain of his sound affection; and have found this, not an intended neglect, but an indisposedness, or a mind seriously bruised within. Occasion reins the motions of the stirring mind. Like men that walk in their sleep, we are led about, we neither know whither nor how.
A timid man can never become great; if he possesses talent he cannot apply it; he is trampled upon by the envious and awed by the swaggering; he is thrust from the direct path which leads to honor and fame by every aspirant who possesses more spirit than himself.
A Study from Nature.—The beautiful statue of the "Greek Slave," by Mr. Powers, has excited such universal admiration, that a companion to it, we understand, will be shortly exhibited by the same artist, under the title of "The American Slave." It is the figure of a negro, with his hands fastened with a chain, on the manacles of which is cut the American Eagle. Round his back is wrapped the national flag, on which the stripes are conspicuously displayed. The crouching attitude of the figure is moot wonderfully depicted, but the statue is most to be admired for its powerful truth and unaffected simplicity. We have been assured by gentlemen who have had opportunities of judging by frequent visits to the Land of Liberty, that they have never seen anything an wonderfully true to nature.—Punch.
Equal Suffrage in Connecticut.—The proposition to abolish the distinction between colored people and whites in aspect to the right of suffrage, was rejected by the people of Connecticut. As far as heard from, the votes stand: For the proposition—5,248. Against it—6884.
The next Congress.—From a statement of the names of the members elect of the next Congress in the Journal of Commerce, it appears that the House will contain ond hundred and ten democrats and one hundred and eighteen whigs. The Senate will contain a democratic majority of fourteen.
The License Question in Vermont.—The Vermont Legislature has settled the license question, by the dismissal, 91 to 88, of a bill intended to repeal the laws of last year, allowing the people to decide by a popular vote whether the traffic in liquor shall be permitted in the State.
The packet ship Wellington, which sailed from New York on Wednesday for London, had about $100,000 on board, and the Havre packet took out a considerable amount.
John Quincy Adams visited the Park Theatre last evening, and was greeted in the most enthousiastic manner by the crowded house. The venerable patriot made his appearance just as the curtain had fallen on the first act of 'La Somnambula.' He was immediately recognized by several gentlemen in the pit. The honored name passed in an instant over the house, and inspired by one common impulse, the auditory burst into three cordial shouts of welcome. The 'old man eloquent' bowed his acknowledgements, and another cheer shook the walls of the Theatre. It was altogether one of the most unaffected, sincere and thrilling exhibitions of patriotic feeling that we ever witnessed. It was no expression of heated partisanship, but the spontaneous manifestation of popular love and reverence for one of the purest of American statesmen.—N. Y. Tribune.
Depopulation of Virginia.—The Parkersburg Gazette informs us that upwards of seventy emigrants, a few days ago, passed through that town, from the Valley of Virginia, on their way, with a large number of slaves, to Missouri, and the remainder to Iowa. Thus says the Gazette, is Virginia peopling other States, when she ought to hold her own, and attract immigration from abroad.
The Norfolk Herald, in view of this depopulation, invites emigrants from the North and East to fill up the places of the slaveholders, over whose departure it rejoices, and anticipates the day as a happy one when they shall all be gone.
Marriage.—The intervention of a priest or other ecclesiastical functionary, was not deemed indispensable to a marriage, until the Council of Trent, 1409. The celebrated decree passed in that session, interdicting any marriage otherwise than in the presence of a priest, and, at least, two witnesses. But before the time of Pope Innocent III, (1818,) there was no solemnization of marriage in the church, but the bridegroom came to the bride's house and led her home to his own, which was all the ceremony then used. Banns were first directed to be published by Canon Walter, in the year 1100.—Cleveland Herald.
The Kissing Beggar..—Among the beggars who now frequent the principal hotels in New York, is a little girl who obtains a living by kissing. She entered Rathbun's Hotel, and stepping up to a number of gentlemen, bent down and kissed their hands, and then, with a beautiful smile playing over her countenance, she held forth her own hand to receive the expected reward. She could not have been over five years of age, and must have departed with a good supply of pennies.
Glass Pens.—Wonders will never cease.—Glass is now made into all sorts of things.—There is cloth manufactured in England of glass, and it has even been used as the mainspring of a chronometer, and answered well for such a purpose. But for a pen to be made of glass, who would have believed it! Yet it is so, and most excellent writing pens they are. It is well known that with a flux of lead in combination with the silicon, in right proportions, glass can be made very ductile. These pens are now becoming not uncommon, and they are perfectly anti-corrosive by the most impure ink.—Scientific American.
Cap Paper.—This term, an abbreviation of foolscap, is derived from the water mark introduced upon paper by the Parliament of the Commonwealth, which was a fool's cap and bells, in mockery of the Royal arms used as a water mark by Charles I. Hence the term foolscap paper subsiding into "cap." Post paper was so called in contradistinction, because used to send by "post" or mail.—Detroit Free Press.
As good as if it were Æsop.—The Nantucket Islander says that the following story was lately told by a reformed inebriate, as an apology for much of the folly of drunkards:
"A mouse ranging about a brewery, happening to fall into a vat of beer, was in imminent danger of drowning, and appealed to a cat to help him out. The cat replied, 'it is indeed a very foolish request, for as soon as I get you out, I shall eat you.' The mouse piteously replied, 'that fate would be better than to be drowned in beer.' The cat lifted him out, but the fumes of the beer caused puss to sneeze; and the mouse took refuge in his hole. The cat called upon the mouse to come out—'you sir, did you not promise that I should eat you?' 'Ah!' replied the mouse, but you know I was in liquor at the time!'
Beauties of Lynch Law.—Some citizens of Montioke, Iowa, who were lately about to lynch some poor fellows for the murder of a man, were peculiarly fortunate in not carrying their unlawful purpose into execution. It turns out that the fellow supposed to have been murdered, had enlisted in the U. S. Army, and was at the Jefferson barracks; and it was only his resorting to a despicable trick—staining a hatchet &c. through revenge—that any one at all was accused of the murder.
Hope On.—Hope on, frail mortal! What though thy path be rugged, and strawed with thorns—thou hast only to persevere, and thy reward awaits thee. Many days and nights, perhaps years, hast thou struggled with adversity.
What though thou art poor, despised by these, it may be, who are thy inferiors in all save wealth! What matters it that thy short life is exposed to the rude blasts of adverse fortune, if at last thou art crowned with immortality, which those who rudely push thee from them think not of. Hope on then in thy poverty—be honest in thy humility—aspire to be truly great by being truly good.
Exercise.—Throughout all nature, want of motion indicates weakness, corruption, inanimation awl death. Trenck, in his damp prison, leaped about like a lion, in him fetters of seventy pounds weight, in order to preserve his health; and an illustrious physician observes: "I know not which is most necessary for the support of the human frame—food or motion. Were the exercises of the body attended to in a corresponding degree with that of the mind, men of learning would be more healthy and vigorous—of more general talents—of more ample practical knowledge; more happy in their domestic lives; more enterprising and attached to their duties as men. In fine, with propriety it may be said that the highest refinement of the mind, without improvement of the body, can never present anything more than half a human being."
Printing.—Cincinnati has a larger power press printing office than can be found in Boston. One establishment has nine of Adams' power presses running, four of them with all the late improvements, and all propelled by water power.
POETRY.
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE'S APOSTROPHE TO THE NORTH STAR.
Star of the North! though night winds drift The fleecy drapery of the sky, Between thy lamp and me, I lift, Yea, lift with hope my sleepless eye, To the blue brights wherein thou dwell'st, And of the land of freedom tell'st.
Star of the North! while blazing day Pours round me its full tide of light, And hides thy pale but faithful ray, I, too, lie hid, and long for night;— For night: I dare not walk at noon, Nor dare I trust the faithless moon,—
Nor faithless man, whose burning lust For gold hath rivetted my chain; No other leader ran I trust, But thee, of ev'n the starry train; For, all the host around thee burning, Like faithless man, keep turning, turning.
I may not follow where they go: Star of the north, I look to thee, While on I press; for well I know Thy light and truth shall set me free;— Thy fight, that no poor slave dereiveth; Thy truth, that all ray soul believeth.
They of the East beheld the star That over Bethlehem's manger glowed; With joy they hailed it from afar, And followed where it marked the road, Till, where its rays directly fell, They found ths hope of Israel.
Wise were the men who followed thus The Star that sets men free from sin. Star of the North! thou art to us, Who're slaves because we wear a skin Dark as is night's protecting wing,— Thou art to us a holy thing.
And we are wise to follow thee, I trust thy steady light alone, Star of the North! thou seem'st to me To burn before the Almighty's throne, To guide me, through these forests dim And vast, to Liberty and Him.
Thy beam is on the glassy breast Of the still spring, upon whose brink I lay my weary limbs to rest, And bow my parching limbs to drink, Guide of the friendless, negro's way, I bless thee for this quiet ray.
In the dark top of southern pines I nestled when the driver's horn Called to the field, in lengthening lines, My fellows, at the break of morn, And there I lay till thy sweet face Looked in upon my hiding place.
The tangled cane-brake, where I crept For shelter from the heat of noon, And where, while others toiled, I slept, Till wakened by the rising moon,— As its stalks felt the night wind free, Gave me to catch a glimpse of thee.
Star of the North! in bright array The constellations round thee sweep, Each holding on its nightly way, Rising or sinking in the deep, And, as it hangs in mid-heaven flaming, The homage of some nation claiming.
This nation to the Eagle cowers; Fit ensign!—she's a bird of spoil: Like worships like; for each devours The earnings of another's toil. I've felt her talons and her beak, And now the gentler Lion seek.
The Lion, at the Virgin's feet, Crouches, and lays his mighty paw Into her lap;—an emblem meet Of England's queen and English law;— Queen, that hath made her islands free; Law, that holds out its shield to me.
Star of the North! upon that shield Thou shinest. O forever shine! The negro, from the cotton-field, Shall then beneath its orb recline, And feed the Lion couched before it, Nor heed the Eagle screaming o'er it.—Pierpont.
Friend Douglass,—Being recently a November visitant at the great wonder of our western hemisphere, I ventured to pencil some thoughts upon a theme, which, although the frequent subject of the painter and the poet, will forever remain exhaustless.
As I stood upon the shelving ledge, and saw the mighty volume, sheeted with foam, making its majestic plunge into the fearful abyss, I thought it not an inapt emblem of the vast flood of light which Truth is now pouring upon the world; some rays of which, I trust, your Star is about to disseminate.
Respectfully yours, J. E. Robinson.
Rochester, November, 1847.
TO NIAGARA.
To-day I stand a pilgrim on thy verge, Old Niagara! and my willing ear Drinks in the deep bass of thy wondrous voice— "The voice of many waters"! On they come, From Erie's greener depths, and bright St. Clair, And Huron fathomless, and far off Michigan; And chaste Superior hoardeth not his wealth, But sends his affluence to thy giant tide. On, on they come , commingling as they run, And, leaping in their joyance, in one mighty flood, Pour their libation from thy trembling verge.
Earth's joyous angel, Beauty, hovers round, And plumes her wing amid thy snowy cloud; And when yon glorious orb is slanting o'er Thy battlements his beams, her mystic hand Shapes from the elements a child of light; Thy cloud of incense its baptismal font, And cradle of her offspring newly born.
Now as I gaze, Time's solemn centuries, Hoar spirits of the past, call from their hollow tomb, Nor tell us when thou wert not. When Horeb's rock, Touched by the feeble wand of Israel's leader, gave Its fountains for her lips, e'en then thy thunder tones, Vibrating along those cliffs, shook earth and air. When bearded time was in his infancy, He played amid thy foam. When Memnons marble gave Its first weird music to the morning beam, A kindred shaft fell on thy pillared mist, And Iris lingered round these rocks, and smiled.
Sublimity is thee; thou art sublimity; And the great seal of Deity is fixed Forever on thy brow! 'Tis no idolatry To stand a mute-lipped worshipper at thy shrine,— To feel our weakness, while our spirit kneels Thus in the presence-chamber of the great I AM! And listens to the anthem thou art ringing, Ever from off thine altar to His praise.
ROBERT BURNS.
BY MONTGOMERY.
What bird in beauty, flight, or song, Can with the bïrd compare, Who sang as sweet, and soared as strong, As ever child of air?
His plume, his note, his form, could Burns, For whim or pleasure change; He was not one, but all by turns, With transmigration strange.—
The Blackbird, oracle of spring, When flowed his moral lay; The Swallow wheeling on the wing, Capriciously at play;
The Humming-bird, from bloom to bloom, Inhaling heavenly balm; The Raven, in the tempest's gloom; The Halcyon in the calm;
In "auld kirk Alloway" the Owl, At witching time of night; By "bonnie Doon," the earliest fowl That carolled to the light,
He was the Wren amid the grove, When in his homely vein; At Bannockburn the bird of Jove, With thunder in his train;
The Woodlark, in his mournful hours; The Goldfinch in his mirth; The Thrush, a spendthrift of his powers, Enrapturing heaven and earth,
The Swan, in majesty and grace, Contemplative and still; But roused, no Falcon in the chase, Could, like his satire, kill,
The Linnet in simplicity; In tenderness, the Dove; But more than all beside, was he The Nightingale, in Love.
Oh, had he never stoop'd to shame, Nor lent a charm to vice, How had devotion loved to name That Bird of Paradise!
Peace to the dead! In Scotia's choir Of minstrels, great and small, He sprang from his spontaneous fire, The Phœnix of them all.
A KIND-HEARTED CHILD.
There is nearly in front of our office, an old pump—a kind of town pump which every one mar use, and whose wet and bespattered base speaks plainer than sign boards could do, of water for man and horses; and a very excellent pump it is, too—never out of order, easily worked, and furnishing the purest, clearest, coolest water in the world. Many a thirsty school boy and omnibus driver has refreshed himself at that pump—the trackmen and draymen stop there and the old iron ladle that hangs by its side has been pressed to many a sweet and pretty lip. It is no unusual thing, just after school hours, to see some little fellow, with his satchel over his shoulder, working away at the handle for ten minutes at a time, till all who have gathered around it have been supplied with drink. But yesterday the pump was honored as though an angel had blessed it. A rosy cheeked girl, her face half hid in a flood of glorious curls, came bouncing by, driving her hoop, as the old, decrepid apple women, whom every body knows, and whom no one passes without giving her a penny, was endeavoring to obtain a drink. She had set down her basket, but bent nearly double by the weight of her years and sorrows, was still compelled to lean upon her staff. The little Hebe saw the difficulty, and was in an instant at the handle. Holding the ladle until it was filled, she carried it gently to the lips of the old lady, then filled it again, while the warm, grateful thanks of the poor woman called the crimson to her cheek, which as she hurried away was deepened by the consciousness that she was observed. We shall ever remember that girl, and the joyous satisfaction with which she performed a good and kind action to the aged. The scene, and the hearty thanks of the old lady, called forcibly to mind, and not altogether inappropriately, the beautiful thought in Talford's tragedy of Ion:
———"It's a little thing To give a cup of water, yet its draught Of cool refreshment, drained by fevered lips, May send a shock of pleasure to the soul, More exquisite than when nectarious juice Renews the life of joy in happiest hours."
REMINISCENCES OF CHALMERS.
On entering Kilmany one Sabbath morning, I was informed that Mrs. Chalmers had, during the preceding night, presented the Doctor with his first child. On meeting with him, I adverted to the circumstance, and inquired how Mrs. Chalmers and the child were getting on. He replied that, "they are as well as could be expected; but I could not have conceived that an event of this kind would have occasioned such a stir; that so many persons would be employed about it; that there would have been such a running up and down stairs, and from one apartment to another; and all this bustle about bringing into the world a creature not three feet long." I observed that no bustle would be more cheerfully submitted to than that which takes place at the birth of a child, whose utter helplessness makes so irresistable an appeal to our sympathy and tenderness. And, as to the child not being three feet long, we must estimate its value as we do that of a young tree—not by the smallness of its dimensions, but by the size that we expect it to attain. "There may be some truth in that," said the Doctor, smiling, "but really such a bustle as the house was thrown into by this affair, I was quite unprepared to expect."
Of the bewilderment to which contemplative persons are liable, the Doctor exhibited a ludicrous instance, by coming on one occasion from Kilmany to Cupar, with a pair of stockings, of which the one was of a quite different pattern from that of the other. The person on whom he had called, and from whom I had the anecdote, pointed out to the astonished Doctor the mistake he had committed.
Dr. Chalmers' toilet was soon dispatched. To the advantage which dress gives to the external appearance, he was remarkably indifferent. He might have been seen walking about Kilmany in such faded habiliments as would have made a person who did not know him suppose that his condition was a large remove beneath that of a clergyman. On one occasion, when walking to Cupar, accompanied by my brother, I encountered the Doctor on the Kilmany road, and stopped a few minutes to converse with him. When I overtook my brother, who had gone forward, he said, that he wondered how I had become acquainted with the beadle of the parish. "The beadle!" I exclaimed. "Don't judge by the outward appearance. He is the minister of the parish, the celebrated Dr. Chalmers with whom any one, however exalted his rank, might be proud to be acquainted."
A specimen of caligraphy so difficult to decipher as that of Dr. Chalmers, believe it would not be easy to find. His letters were so shapeless, so unlike those they were designed to represent, that you would have been almost tempted to think that he intended to mystify his meaning and perplex his correspondent. I once received a letter from him, which nobody to whom I showed it could read, and which I believe would have baffled all my attempts to do so, had I not been previously acquainted with the subject to which it referred.
Studious persons are somtimes surprisingly ignorant how to act on ordinary occasions. Dr. Chalmers came home one evening on horseback, and, as neither the man who had the charge of his horse, nor the key of the stable could be found, he was for some time not a little puzzled where to find a temporary residence for the animal. At last he fixed on the garden, as the fittest place he could think of for the purpose; and, having led the horse thither, he placed it on the garden walk. When his sister, who had also been from home, returned, was told that the key of the stable could not be found, she enquired what had been done with the horse. "I took it to the garden," said the Doctor. "To the garden!" she exclaimed; "then all our flower and vegetable beds will be destroyed." "Don't be afraid of that," said the Doctor, "for I took particular care to place the horse on the garden-walk." "And did you really imagine," rejoined the sister, "that he would remain there?" "I have no doubt of it," said the Doctor; "for no sagacious an animal as the horse could not but be aware of the propriety of refraining from injuring the products of the garden." "I am afraid," said Miss Chalmers, "that you will think less favorably of the discretion of the horse when you have seen the garden." To decide the controversy by an appeal to the facts, they went to the garden, and found, from the ruthless devastation which the trampling and rolling of the animal had spread over every part of it, that the natural philosophy of the horse was a subject with which the lady was far more accurately acquainted than her learned brother. "I never could have imagined," said the Doctor, "that horses were such senseless animals."—Hogg's Weekly Instructor.
DROWNING OF SIX HUNDRED SLAVES.
AN INCIDENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE. RELATED IN THE UNIVERSE NEWSPAPER.
In the year 1830 there was hovering upon the African Coast a large clipper brig, called the Brilliante, commanded by a desperado named Homans. Homans was an Englishman by birth and was known along the whole coast and in Cuba, as the most successful slaver of his day. The brig was owned by two men residing in Havanna, one an Englishman, the other a Spaniard. She was built to carry six hundred negroes, and in her Homans had, in ten successful voyages, actually landing in Cuba five thousand negroes! The brig carried ten guns, had thirty sweeps and a crew of sixty Spaniards, the most of them as desperate as their commander. An English brig of war, which attacked her was so cut up in hull and rigging, that she was abandoned and soon after sunk; an English sloop of war attempted to carry the Brilliante with boats, but was beaten off with great slaughter.
Now it was well known that Homans was again on the coast, and it was resolved to make another desperate effort to take him with the evidence of his guilt on board. The arrangements were well made. He was allowed to take in his cargo of negroes and set sail.
The Brilliante had not lost sight of the coast when the quick eye of the commander discovered that he was entrapped. Four cruizers, three English and one American had been laying in wait for him, and escape was hopeless, for in running away from one he would come within reach of another. Night was coming on, and Homans was silently regarding his pursuers, when suddenly the huge sails of the brig flapped idly, the wind died rapidly away, and the slaver was motionless on the waters, "This will not do," Homans muttered, knocking away the ashes from his cigar—"their boats will be down upon me before I am ready for the visit," and as he said this, his stern face lit up with a smile, the expression of which was diabolical. It was evident he meditated some desperate plan.
A dozen sweeps were got out, and the vessel moved slowly through the water. Meantime the darkness having deepened, Homans proceeded to carry out his design.
The cable attached to the heaviest anchor, was taken outside the hawser hole, and carried round the bow, aft round the stern, and then forward on the other side. The hatches were then taken off, and the negroes passed up, each securely ironed by the wrists. As the miserable wretches came from the hot hold into the fresh air, they expresssed by their looks a gratitude that would have softened the heart of any but the fiend in whose power they were. Without a word they were led to the side, made to bend over the rail, outside of which the chain ran. It was slow work, but at the end of four hours, six hundred Africans, male and female were bending over the rail of the brig, in a painful position, holding by their chained hands to a huge cable, which was to be attached to a heavy anchor, suspended by a single sling from the bow.
Homans himself examined the fastenings to see that every negro was strongly bound to the chain. This done, he ordered the pen work of the hold to be broken up, and brought on deck, bound up in matting, well filled with shot and thrown overboard. The work was completed an hour before day-break, and now the only witness of Homans' guilt was attached to the fatal chain. Homans turned to his mate, and with a smile full of meaning, said in Spanish—Harro take an axe and go forward. The wind will come off to us soon. Listen for the word, and when you hear it cut the sling.
The man went forward, and Homans turned and in vain attempted to penetrate the darkness. "I don't want to lose the niggers," he said, speaking aloud—and yet, I dare not wait until daylight. I wish I knew where the hounds were."
At that instant the report of a gun reached his ear, then another and another in different directions. The cruisers were firing signals.
That's enough, answered Homans I know where you are. Then raising his voice he cried, Harro, are you ready? the wind will reach us soon."
Ay, ay, sir, was the response.
In a few moments the sails began to fill, and the vessel moved slowly through the water.
How much water do you suppose we have here? asked Homans, turning to the man at the wheel.
Fifty fathoms, at least, was the reply.
That will do, the slaver muttered, and he walked forward, and carefully examined the "chain gang," as he brutally termed his diabolical invention.
The negroes sent up piteous groans. For many hours they had been bent over in that unnatural position, by which they were suffering the keenest torture.
The breeze strengthened, the Brilliante dashed like a racer over the deep. Homans hailed from the quarter deck, while his men collected in groups, witnessed unmoved the consummation of of the plan.
Are you ready, Harro?
Aye, aye, sir.
Homans looked around and out into the darkness, which was fast giving way to the morn.—Then he thundered out—
Strike.
There was a sound of a single blow. a heavy plunge, and as the cable fell off the side, a crash, above which rose one terrible shriek. It was the last cry of the murdered Africans.
One more, and all was still.—Six hundred human beings had gone down with that anchor and chain, into the depths of the ocean!
Two hours after day-break the Brilliante was overhauled. There was no evidence that she was a slaver, and her captors were obliged to let her pass. The instructions to cruizers at that time did not allow a vessel to be captured unless negroes were found on board.
From the Woonsocket Patriot. THE GOOD TIME,—IS IT COMING?
Well, that is a question, is'nt it, friend Editor? True, almost every body says the good time will come; but it strikes me they mope along in the world kicking at this and grumbling at that little obstacle, just as though they did'nt believe their own words,—as though they didn't feel in their hearts what their lips were saying, every once in a while, automaton like. Still, I have no doubt a majority of them entertain, in their ever hopeful souls, a kind of indefinable hope of a "good time,"—away off, somewhere, it may he; but to come, somehow or another, at some time or another. The question is, will it come?—Is it coming?
Says an editor whose sheet lies before me, it will. "Good," he says, "will overcome evil,—truth will overcome error,—right will triumph, finally, in a struggle with wrong." I don't know about that. The struggle has already been a long one,—the struggle between right and wrong,—and the right hasn't fairly triumphed yet. What may come to pass one of these days, I don't know; but in the other world, most of the ministers say, the devil is to have the biggest kingdom to all eternity, which he does not deserve; and people are to curse their Maker, which they ought not to do. Of course, right can't triumph there,—or else the ministers havn't got the hang of things,—or else I havn't got the right hang of the ministers. When, then, is the good time to make its advent?
There is oppression now, as there ever was. Power is getting gradually from the hands of the many into the hands of the few, and is only brought back to its rightful possessors through terrible and convulsive struggles, such as may not occur oftener than once a century, even with a people naturally and truly jealous of their rights. Murders and robberies, and other crimes,—crimes cold-blooded, and crime's passionate,—are constantly multiplying. Poverty is making mad its gaunt, starving victims; and despair shrieks and groans in many a cot and cabin. In God's name, where is the good time?
But don't let's fret ourselves. The good time is coming, and has come. I can see and you can see the evidence of it, every day, and in almost every passing event. We feel it in our bones. We inhale the inspiring truth in the very air we breathe. Even the storm clouds shadow it; and the sun shines it, in characters which all may read. Because oppression and wrong have not ceased, or have secured new victims, it does not follow that they are to grind us in the dust forever. There are more slaves to-day than there were yesterday, yet slavery is nearer to its grave, and will certainly die and he buried. More executions may take place this year, than have taken place in any two years before; yet the time is coming, and the flight of this year hastens it, when these shall be abolished forever. The leaven is working, and the whole lump is being leavened, slowly, but surely, and steadily.
There is more real freedom in the world to-day than there was yesterday. Truth is uttered more boldly, and men receive it more gladly. We are not afraid to listen. The great minds of the world are speaking their great thoughts on subjects of interest to us in this world. They are not puzzling their brains and our brains with nonsensical questions, as to whether there are three Gods or only one; or whether hades and shoel mean hell right out and out, or only an extensive under-ground rum-hole; or whether it is lawful to do good or only go to meeting, of a Sunday; or whether an Arminian or Calvinistic place of torment in the future world is the more tolerable. They talk of men's rights—of their right to govern themselves, and to speak their own thoughts—of their interests, as affected by the monopolizing of the land by the few, by prohibitary or revenue tariffs, by high postages, by high laws. When a nation is starving, they send bread to restore the famished, and not sermons to get them out of one church into another. And instead of stirring up feuds in a few congregations of honest worshippers, they stir the whole people—the nation's very heart—with love and gratitude.
They think and speak of corn-laws and criminal laws; of the policy of putting men into prison because they are poor, and choking them to death because they are bad—of the common schools, and how they may be improved; of steam-engines, and how they may be rendered safer and more valuable; of the soil, and how it may be cultivated; of the poor laborer, and how his condition may be made better. They speak, and their words are sent by lightning's force from city and from town to town, on little wires, to the printer's press; and then they issue again, and visiting the palace and the cabin, are read by the high and the low, the exalted and the humble, to leave their impress, and come forth yet once again in great and generous deeds.
In this way and by these means, the world is growing better, and the good time is coming. It will as truly come as that the earth turns on its axis; and even now such of us as hope and believe, may enjoy it- Dwelling on the dark side of every picture, and despairing of progress because everything does not go with lightning speed; fearing to stir out of our tracks lest we may be alarmed at the idea of being afraid, of getting frightened, and scowling, and grumbling, and fretting at every poling dolt who stands in our way—all this may not and will not hasten the time; but the time, the "good time" will come in spite of it, and the earth will shine with radiant beauty, and our hearts will bound with glee and gladsomeness. So may it be. Thine truly, C. WEBSTER.
Providence, Sept. 29, 1847.
THE INTERESTING SLAVE CASE OF MOUNT HOLLY.
We subjoin a brief statement of the facts of the arrest of three negroes at Mount Holly, under the plea that they were slaves. Independent of the natural abhorrence which exists among us against slavery, the trial has an interest, as being the first ever held in this country. We give the facts as narrated by a friend:
This highly interesting and important slave case took place in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and was very unexpectedly decided last evening. It was a claim made by Mr. John Roth, a slave holder, who resides in Cecil county, State of Maryland, to recover, as fugitive slaves, Perry Henson, Noah Henson, and Rachel Pine, three respectable colored citizens, who have been residing for several years in the neighborhood of Mont Holly—two of them being married and one having a family of children. These persons were seduced from their homes on Thursday last, on a pretended claim for taxes. On arriving at Mount Holly, in the evening, they were all seized as fugitives, by a warrant, and taken before Judge Hayward. Some of their friends, hearing of it that night, assembled very early in the morning, and employed for them as counsel Mr. R. D. Spencer, of Mount Holly, who went before the said judge, and demanded a trial by jury, under a recent law by the state of New Jersey; which was granted, and the hearing postponed until yesterday morning, when Messrs. Stratton and Moffit, of Mount Holly appeared as counsel for the claimants, and Mr. Spencer, assisted by Mr. Paul Brown of Philadelphia, for the defendants. At the onset of the case, Mr. Stratton attempted to prevent the exercise of peremptory challenge of three jurors, which however was overruled by the Court. Upon the jurors being called by Mr. Charles Collins, sheriff of Burlington County, it was found that he had returned twelve men, and no more; consequently, upon the defendants' counsel challenging three jurors, the panel was exhausted.
The claimant produced several witnesses from Maryland, who testified that they had known these alleged fugitives for several years, and believed that they had formerly belonged to Mr. John Roth, Sen., who as stated by one witness, died insolvent, and that they now considered them the property of the claimant, because they had seen them living with him. One witness testified that he was the administrator of John Roth, Jun., the present claimant, by orphan's court.
Upon these grounds the counsel for plaintiff rested their case.
Mr. Spencer then commenced his speech for the defendants, in which he most energetically appealed to the jury, as citizens of New Jersey, to stand by their own State laws, made for the defence of human liberty. He then stated that the plaintiffs had not made out their case according to the requirements of the laws of New Jersey, for the following reasons:
1st. Because they had not produced properly authenticated documentary evidence that Maryland was a slave state.
2d Because they had uot satisfactorily proved the title of the present claimant to these three persons either by bill or otherwise, and that either of these points being unsustained, must prove fatal to their cause. He proceeded by showing that under these views of the case, the jury must pause, before returning into hopeless bondage three respectable inhabitants of this district.—This speech was most ably delivered, and had a thrilling effect upon the large audience there assembled.
Mr. David Paul Brown then followed upon the same side, in a most emphatic manner, showing the great importantance of the present decision, on account of this being the first occurrence of the kind in this or any country. He then went into the legal merits of the case, which he handled in a masterly manner, and fully sustaining the views presented by his colleague, and urging the importance to the jury of keeping the claimants strictly to the laws, and not to infringe in the least upon the rights of these unfortunate persons, who stood charged with no crime, save that of color.
This most powerful appeal was listened to with the greatest attention, and appeared to produce great effect upon the court and jury, as well as all present.
Mr. Stratton then followed for the claimants, in which he acquitted himself with ability, but did not attempt to answer the objections on the other side.
Names of the Jury.—Charles Stratten, Benjamin Wilkins, Wm. C. Shinn, John Fairholm, Phinehas Kirkbright, Samuel Reed, James A. Powell, John C. Millvine, Wm. Pugh, T. Collins, Joseph W. Cole, name of the other not taken down.
The jury returned in about twenty minutes, with a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs; and as the officers were about removing the prisoners, one of their number made some resistance or an effort to escape, when he was seized, and the court was immediately cleared of colored persons, who retired without the least disposition being manifested by them to make a riot. Yet notwithstanding this, the sheriff drew his pistols, and threatened to shoot the citizens if they attempted to interfere. The slave-dealers and their allies also flourished pistols and dirks, and some with oaths threatened to shoot the first "nigger" they could find.
Ropes were called for, and the prissoners tied very securely. One of them was treated in a very barbarous manner, and the voices of s number of respectable inhabitants were raised, to beg of them to desist from such cruelty. While they were still lying upon the floor, with their hands pinioned behind them, and only a few of the citizens, in addition to the slaveholders and their allies around them, the military of the town who it seems had been called out, made their appearance.
They were then conducted to the prison by a military escort, and the people quietly dispersed. We understand that during the night military accompanied the slaveholders to secure to them safe custody of their human "property."
There was no reasonable pretext for this disgraceful proceeding of calling out the military. During the whole of the trial, although there was a large number of colored people present, they behaved with the utmost propriety; they were respectable in appearance, and made not the least demonstration of attempt at riot or rescue.
It is but proper to say that many of the respectable people of Mount Holly expressed themselves as deeply outraged by this transaction, and pronounce upon it the strongest censure.
Flowers.—How the universal heart of man blesses flowers! They are wreathed round the cradle, the marriage altar, and the tomb. The Perisan in the far east, delights in their perfume, and writes his love in nosegays; while the Indian child of the far west clasps his hands with glee, as he gathers the abundant blossoms—the illuminated scripture of the prairies. The Cupid of the ancient Hindoos tipped his arrows with flowers, and orange buds are the bridal crown with us, a nation of yesterday. Flowers garlanded the Grecian altar, and they hang in votive wreaths before the Christian shrine.
All these are appropriate uses. Flowers should deck the brow of the youthful bride, for they are in themselves a lovely type of marriage. They should twine round the tomb, for their perpetually renewed beauty is a symbol of the resurrection. They should festoon the altar, for their fragrance and their beauty ascend in perpetual worship before the Most High. Lydia M. Child.
The Editor of the Chicago Democrat perpetrates the following good advice. It is truly multum in parvo.
"Wives love your husbands and make them take a paper!"
MARRIED.
At Pittsford, 14th November, by Rev. M. Ferguson, Horace T. Sheldon to Miss Laura A. Vosburgh.
THE ROCHESTER ANTI-SLAVERY FAIR.
The Anti-Slavery women of Western New York, purpose holding a Fair in the city of Rochester, on the 17th and 18th of December next, to aid the great work of emancipation. The active friends of the cause are few; we therefore appeal to all who feel for suffering humanity, and self-preservation from the encroachments of the slave power, to cooperate with us in the undertaking. We ask aid of all those mothers, who can feel for the mothers of our own land that are daily and hourly experiencing the torture of having their children torn from the sight of their eyes, and the embrace of their love, by the unhallowed grasp of Slavery; and we solicit all who feel that the relation of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, friend and neighbour, are desirable, to aid us in our efforts to give to the three millions whose ties are thus torn and severed, all the blessings that we crave for ourselves.
To forward this object, we intend offering to the public such articles as are both useful and ornamental, the proceeds of which shall be expended in sustaining lecturers and circulating publications to awaken and inform the public, respecting this system of unparalleled wickedness, and if possible to inspire it with true love of freedom. Donations of every description and variety, of small as well as large value, will be thankfully received. Liberal hearts and willing hands will devise many ways to subserve the cause. We earnestly solicit mechanics, merchants, and farmers, to lay something upon this table of humanity. Supplies of eggs, butter, cheese, cream, turkeys, hams, dried beef, pickles, and fruit, of every description, will be acceptable offerings for the refreshment table. We invite and strongly hope that the ladies of our neighbouring towns, will unite their efforts in furnishing tables, and take charge of them with us at the Fair.
The Annual Meeting of the Society will be held immediately after the Fair, which will greatly add to the interest of the occasion.
| Sarah D. Fish, Rhoda De Garmo, Mary B. Fish, Mary Ann McClintock, Abigail Bush, Sarah L. Hallowell, Charlotte Wilber, Phebe Hathaway, Margaret Clark, Margaret Larson, Mrs. Platt, | Mary H. Hallowell, Mary Baldwin, Catherine G. Braithwait, Sarah E. Thayer, Lemira M. Kedzie, Amy Post, Susan R. Doty, Catharine Stebbins, Phebe Tredwell, Elvira Marsh, Sarah Jacobs, |
| Sarah A. Burtis. ||
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UNIVERSE COOKING STOVES.
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BOSTON ADVERTISEMENTS.
THE FOURTEENTH NATIONAL ANTI-SLAVERY BAZAAR,
To be held in Boston during Christmas and New Year's Week, 1847–8.
The undersigned, the Committee of the Fourteenth National Anti-Slavery Bazaar, appeal to all that is good and true in this nation for which they labor, to aid their undertaking.
Our object is the abolition of slavery, through the renovation of public opinion; and we ask help of all who feel compassion for a suffering people, or the instinct of self-preservation in view of the encroachments of tyranny and the dangers of sin; or the divine and awful sense of justice, moving them to uphold the right; or the high sense of honor and religious obligation, impelling them to choose their lot in this life with the slaves, and not with their oppressors; or shame beneath the scorn of Christendom, justly due to a nation of slaveholders; or disgust at the discrepancy between American principle and American practice; or responsibility for keeping pure the sources of public morals; or desire to lay deep in the national conscience the foundations of future generations.
After a deep and careful examination of ways and means for the peaceable abolition of slavery, it has been found hopeless, except through the consent of the majority of the whole people. This obtained, the work is done; for the willing can readily find a way. Sound judgment on the choice of means, and the best economy in their expenditure, alike forbid us, therefore, to enter into the partisan or sectarian schemes, by which the purposes of any one of the various political and theological persuasions will be subserved at the expense of the cause of Freedom, while all others are alienated from it in the same proportions. When the preliminary question is put, which every one ought to ask,—"How do you mean to expand the money, which you require our help to raise?"—our answer is, It shall be spent wholly and directly in awakening, informing and influencing the public mind on this primarily important question. It shall not be put into the hands of any of the political organizations, to promote the election of any candidate, but be made to awaken the love of freedom and the hatred of slavery in all: not in aiding a few fugitives to escape, but to save them that painful and hazardous experiment, by abolishing the system which enslaves them; not in sending them to Africa, but in enabling them to become the free and happy elements of national strength and prosperity at home; not in making the proposition, in degrading to the morals of our nation, that the government should become the tributary of this wrong, but in efforts for such an elevation of national character as shall brand it—crime.
This money will in short, be spent neither in compensation, colonization, nor political partisanship; while a clear-sighted economy will also forbid its being used in the equally benevolent, though less effectual channel of a vigilance committee. It will he spent in propagandism; for we strike openly, boldly, strongly, and successfully too, as our fourteen years of labor prove, as the root of the system we mean to abolish.
Finally, we appeal to our friends and countrymen to take part in this holy cause, as to frail and suffering and short-lived fellow-creatures. It shall strengthen them in weakness, comfort in affliction, and steel against calamity. It shall save them from the sin of living on the side of the oppressor, and the ignominy of dying in the silent support of wrong. It shall secure their children from such an inheritance of grief and shame, as the remembrance that their parents were drawn by disgraceful sympathy into the ranks of the enslavers, when the moral battle was fought out in the United States for the freedom of the race. Its consolations are proportionate to its renunciations; and in its prosecution, as in the great cause of Christianity, of which its principles form a fundamental part, we are able to assure such as embrace it, that no man shall lose friends, or houses, or lands, for its sake, but he shall receive an hundred-fold of nobler recompense in this world. and a sense of spiritual life besides, to which the indifferent frivolities of spiritual existence sink into insignificance.
By the united efforts of all who ought to co-operate on this occasion, it is proposed to place TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS at the ultimate disposal of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
MARIA WESTON CHAPMAN, ANN T. GREENE PHILLIPS, HELEN E. GARRISON, MARY MAY, ELIZA LEE FOLLEN, HENRIETTA SARGENT, SARAH SHAW RUSSELL, SARAH BLAKE SHAW, MARY GRAY CHAPMAN, LOUISA LORING, CATHERINE SARGENT, CAROLINE WESTON, HANNAH TUFTS, MARY YOUNG, ELIZA K. MERIAM, MARY WILLEY, CAROLINE F. WILLIAMS, SUSAN C. CABOT, ANNE WARREN WESTON, EVELINA S. A. SMITH, ABBY SOUTHWICK, MARIA LOWELL, SARAH H. SOUTHWICK, FRANCES MARY ROBBINS, ANN R. BRAMHALL, LYDIA PARKER, HARRIET T. WHITE, HARRIET B. HALL, ABBY FRANCIS, HARRIET M. JACKSON, ANNA R. PIHLBRICK.
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.
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.
D. RUGGLES.
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.
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.