Winchester gazette. [volume] (Winchester, Va.) 18??-1826, 1821-10-06
JUDGE WASHINGTON.
rom the Baltimore Telegraph,

~'on' s N~'osS he'cStsPu, oept. "a.
II aifards us much satisfaction to
have 1t in our power to lay the follow.
ing letter before the public. 1t will be
read with pleasure by all the friends Of
can,lor, dignity and worth:
TO Frederick g. Sch@fer, Esq.
J.fsrson County Va. Sept. IS, 1891,
SIR-I received iast uisht, from Al.
'e1andria. your favour Of the ttih inst.
and beg you to accept my best thanks
Tor your generous "ffer of the columns
OF the Federal Republican for the pur.
pose OF refuting certain illiberal re.
marks, which have appeared in other
journals Of the day, respecting a sale of
negroes which il was my good fortune
to effect during the last mouth.
l had heard that this transaction had
been noticed in q Leesburg paper, but
in such a manner as to prove that the
wound intended to be inflicted was
meant, not for me personally, but for
the colonization society, through the
president of that institution. Niles
Register Of the 1st inst. which was
sent to me by friend on Saturday
last, is the only paper which l have
seen which contaius even an implied
eensure of my conduct and had the
statement there made corresponded
with the truth, it would have passed by
me unnoticed. 1t is for the sole pur-
pose Of correcting the hisrepresenta-
tons which appear in that paper, that
am induced to avail myself Of your
offer; but before do SO, I take the lib
erty. on my own behalf. and on that of
my southern fellow. citizens, to enter u
solemn protest against the propriety
of any person questioning our right, le-
gat or moral. to dispose of property
which ia secured to US by sanctions e.
qualify valid with those by which we
hold every other species of property i;
and / have also to request that no ex-
pressions which | may Inadvertently
use, may be so construed, as to imply a
qualification Of myself or others, whe-
Their members Of the Colonization Soci.
city, or not, for exercising this right
l acknowledge at the same time. that
If, in the exercise Of it, have disre.
garded the dictates Of humanity, or un-
necessarily given pain 10 those who
were affected by it, my conduct is just
~ open to public apprehension.
take no exception, Individually, to
the statement in the Leesburg paper
The simple fact, that sale was made
of 81 negroes, 10 two gentlemen of
Louisiana, is true. The covert attack
upon the Colonization Society, the ten,
dency and object Of which, it would moi
be difficult to unfold, ought not. in his
1cay, to have been made; but as this
part of the subject may possibly he no
ticed By some member Of that society
who has more time and better talents
than myself, to discuss ii, shall pass
on to the additional statement to be
found in Niles Register, above alluded
TO.
How eurrect it was, in the person
who made that statement, to visit
Mount Veraon in my absence, and
there to hold conversations with nv ne
groes upon the delicate topics which
obviously caused his visit, or was The
consequence of it, 1 submit to his own
sense Of propriety and to the public
Judgment to decide. But l surely have
a right to complain. that he not only
gave credit himself to the assertions of
such injormers, but that he should pub
Iish them to the world as facts, without
first applying to me to admit, deny, or
explain them. IL he had rode one mile,
70 the house of my nearest neighbor,
who is acqnaiBted with every eircum-
stance attending this transaction, he
would have received such Information
as could not, 1 think, have failed to
satisfy him Of the falsi'y Of the reports
to which lie had listened. With these
observations upon the conduct of this
person, l proceed to notice bis state
nent. the manifest object Of which is,
not to deny, as it would seem, my LEGAL
right TO dispose of this species Of pro-
perry, although he, as well as the edit
or of,he Register, plainly questions
moral right 10 me, TO exercise il, but to
attach to my conduct the charge Of in
humanity in the mode of doing it. The
charge is, that husbands had been
torn from their wives ard children,
aud that many relations were ieft be.
hindu
If the writer Of the above letter mean,
to insinuate that had rolunarily sep
arated husbands from their wives and
children, he has been misIed by false
infornatioD. In making out the list
OF those negroes which, as IT will pre-
sently appear, was under the necessi-
~ ofpartiug with, toek care 40 to ar
range it, as to avoid the separation Of
families. There yere three or P,,r