Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-02-05
To the Duchess of Sutherland and the La
dies of England,

dies of England,
Your address to your sisters, the women of the
United States, on the subject of domestic slavery,
as It exists among us, which has appeared in our
public journals, should be acknowledged by some
one of the vast number of those to whom It is adj
dressed, without awaiting the publication of the
more formal communication. There are some of
the concerns of life in which conventionalites are
properly to be dsregarded, and this one of them
reply to your address must necessa rily be the
work OF some one individual among US, or must go
altogether unperformed Woman, in the United
States, with but few exceptions, confines herself
within that Sphe:e for which the God who created
her seems to have designed her. Her circle is, lit
orally and emphahcally, that of her family; and
such she IS content that it shall be. Within that
circle her influence is felt the relations of life
as vile, mother, miStreSs-and as she discharges
the duty of one or all of these relations SO is she
respected or otherwise. To cast doubt on her f.
dellty In any one OF theEn is to excite against her
the odlum OF the community, and, in greatness
u'e TO dethrone her from her high position. She
knows nothing of political conventions, or conven-
IONS OF any other sort than such as are held under
suitable pastors OF the church, and are wholly di-
Iected to the advancement of the Christian relig-
ion. Such is emphatically the case with the wo-
men Gt the Southern States. Do you wish to see
thenL you must visit their homes. Doyou de-
sire to ascertain the nature of their empoymen,s,
you must enter their family circles, and believe
me, good sisters of England, you would find in
Their Christian department, and perfect amiability
OF manners, enough at once, 10 inspire you with
the most exalted respect and esteem. You
might find no splendid veStnentS OF dress, no
glttenng diamonds, no ariStocratic displays. No,
the yestments they wesr are those of meekness and
charity, thrlr diamonds are gems of the heart, and
their SpleHdoI the neatnesS and order and content
ment which everywhere greetS the eye; and that
neatneSS; that order, and that contentment is in
nothing more observable than in the we'll clothed
and happy domeSticS who welcome your arrival,
anu heap upon you every comfort during yolr ST.
nHRFt ha "a, sc 4t,nsr
see then how utterly impossible it would be to ex-
pectthe women of the United States TO assemble in
convention, either in person or by proxy, in order
10 frame an answer to your address. Nay, must,
moreover, in all nkneSS, declare 10 YOU that the
women of the South especially have not received
your address i'll the kindeSt spirit. They regard it
as entirely incompatible with all confidence in or
consideration for them, to invoke the interpoSiton
OF the women of what are called the free States in
matter with (Which they have no more 10 do than
nave yourselves, and whose interference in the
question can produce no other effect than 10 eX-
cite disturbance and agitation and i'll will and
possibly, IN the end, total humiliation of kind
leehng between geographical sections.
It's the province of the women of the Southern
States to preside over the domestic economy of the
estates and plantations of their husbands-it is en-
phatca ny their province to visit the sick, and at
tend to the comfort of all the laborers upon such
estates; and it is felt to be but poor Compliment
to the women Of the South, 10 suppose it necessa-
ny TO Introduce other superintendent than their
o"H oSSA Tue coHulIlOn OF lnelr dependents and
servants They see TOO. or fancy they see, in the
TACT that the address which you have made Them
was handed TO you already prepared for signature
by the editors of the newspaper press of England
ana mat according to the admission of the Duchess
OF sutherland IN Ler op. ming address 10 your Con-
VentIon, your Convention, itself, is but the off
spring OF the same political newspaper press-I
say they see enough in all this excite not their
symPathles, but their apprehensions. They also
see, or fancy that they see, in Your movement the
fingers of your greatest statesmen. The Countess
OF Derby, the ViscountesS PalmeIstcn, the Count.
eSS OF Carlisle, Lady John Russell, not to mention
Others OF distinction and notorety, would scarcely
De complmented by SuppoSition that they had
signed or openly approved such an address without
The concurrence Of their husbands. The women
oil the Southern States are for the most part v ell
educated; indeed they yield not in tn. respect to
any females en- earth, and they have peculiar on
portunltieS of acquiring knowledge in regard to The
public concerns of the world. Politics is almost
universally the theme of conversation among The
men, IN all their coteries ard social gatherings and
Inc women would be stupid indeed, il thew did moi
gathermuch information from this abu ndaut source
Hence they are not ignorant of the rapid growth of
their beloved country, of the promises of lis ear
~ iuture. Their mothers knew this land when it
contained but three millions of inhabitants and
numbered but thirteen States. Their children
know 1t now, as the great confederated republic,
=" hose population already equals 26 ,OOO OOO and
whose domlnlons are washed by the waters of two
oceans. Believe Inc, that lis magnitude now and
Importance in the future, is as fully known 10 the
women OF the United States, as it is TO your hus-
bands, and editors, and statesmen.
Our census table shows a duplication of our
population in every cycle of % years; SO that by
the Time the infant, now IL the cradle, shall have
attained The age OF manhood, that population will
have increased TO $4,000, 000 and by the time that
same infant attainS TO middle age it will have
swollen into 1OO,000,000. We need 20 no farther
IN the estimate, in order to unveil that immense fu
ture which lies before us-a future, unrivalled
IN point of power, by any thing the world has
heretofore Seen-af future, which already fixes upon
1t the intense and SteadfaS gaze of the statesmen of
other countneS-a future, which unfoIds new
destiny happier and brighter one | trust for
the human famly-a future, to be regarded with
rapture by the lover OF man, and which may cause
privilege to SILVER and tremble with fear in ALI ito
fbres and arteries. l allude not to any power of
the sword. No, allude 10 power more resstless
and more certain in its resultS-the power of exam
ple-the example of free, prosperous and great
people, among whom all artificial distinctions of
society are unknown; where preferment is equally
open TO all, and mans capacity for self government
is recognized and conclusively established The
women OF the United States foreSee all this, and
they also thoroughly comprehend the fact that all
contederaceS have heretofore, in the history of the
world, been broken up and destroyed by the machi-
nations of foreign governments; and if such has
been the fate OF other confederacieS, how much
more vlgilant ought we to be to guard against the
fatal results which have attended on others and to
look with suspicion, come from what quarter it nay
on all interference in our domestic concernsi If
the Achnlan anu other leagues could not withstand
the Vaccinations of the powers of their day, how
truly sensitive ought we to be on point which
proved SO fatal to them and il the foreign States
by whom such confederacies were surrounded, felt
il to be due to their safety to destroy them by
their Vaccinations, have we not reason 10 suppose
that ten-fold interest IS found in our case in
view of the rapid growth of the U. States, and in
the early development of that future which will
clothe this country with all the elements of CONTROL
in the affairs of the worlds? Governments and
countries which are now looked upon as stars of the
first magnitude, will long if the United States
roll on in their present orbit be secondary and
tary in the political hemisphere. This is quite as
thoroughly known by us as by you, women of
England. and therefore you should not be in the
slightest degree surprised at the suspicion with
which your address is regarded by all the thinking
women. not only of the South, but of the whole
Union. We know that there is hnt one en- hect or,