The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1854-11-11
REILLY.

TIlOS X. kNOWLAND,
Post Office, Warrenton, Miss.
Reilly
Mr.. X. Il have carried your letter Of the
2Sth ult. in my hat for several days awaiting
an opportunity to answer it. | now seize the
first opportunc moment. and yours is one of
class with which l ain frequently favored. l
will send you my reply through the Tribune,
wishing il regarded as general answer to all
such applications.
Let me begin by frankly stating that am
not engaged in the Slave Trade, and do not
now contemplate embarking in that business:
but no man can say confidently what he may or
may not become and, if | ever sdouid engage
in the traffic you suggest it will be but fair to
remember you rs among my promptcrs to I'M
dertake it. Yet even then l must decline any
such examination syou rrofer Of the property
you wish to dispose Of Your biography is SO
full and precise. so frank and straig ht-iorWard,
that prefer to rest satisfied with your assur-
ance in the premises
lou will see that have dsregarled your re-
quest that your name and residence should be
suppressed by me. That request seems to me
inspired by a modcsty and scf-sacrice unsuit-
ed TO the Age of Brass We live in. Are you
not seeking to do humane and generous act:
Are yea not proposing to tax yourself $500, in
order to raise an Intelligent capable, dcserv-
Ing woman from Slavery to Freedom? Are
you not proposing to do his in Il manner per-
fectly lawful and uncNccptionablc, involving
no surrender or compromise Of southern
Rights" Ny dear sir! such virtue must not
be allowed to blush unseen Our age needs
the inspirat on Of heroic examples, aid those
who would "do good by stealth. and blush TO
find it Fame" must-hy gentle violence. if
need be-stand revealed to an amazed. admir-
ing world. True, it might (and might not)
have been still more astounding but for Your
unlucky gambling on the last Presidential Elec-
ton, wherein ii is hard to tell whether you who
lost your money. or those who won their Prcs-
dent were most unfortunate. | aflectionately
advise You both never to d. so again.
And now as to this daughter of the late
Judge Hopkins of Savannah, Ca, whom you
propose to sell me:
l cannot now remember that have ever
heard Slavery justified Oh any ground which
did not assert or imply that it is the test con-
dti0n for the negro. The blacks, We are dai
ly told, cannot take care Of Themselves. but
sink into idleness. debauchery. sluald power
tv and utter brutality, the moment the mas
ters sustaining rule and care are Withdrawn.
III this be true, how dare YOU turn this Door
dependent, for whose we'll being you are re-
sponsiblc, over to me. who neither would nor
could exert masters control over her: IF
this slave ought not to be set at liberty. why
do YOU ask me to bride YOU with 5 900 to do
her that wrong If she ought to b. why should
pay you $1,000 for dol e your duty in the
premises? You hold Il peculiar and RESPONSE
IDLE relation to her, through your own volun-
tary act. but am only related to her through
ADAM the same as to every Esquimaux. Pata-
gonlan or NewZCalandcr. Whatever may he
your duty in the premises, why should be
called on to help you dischargct:
full as your account of this girl is. you say
nothing other children, though such She I'M
doubleday has, whether they be also those of
her several masters. rs she VS. or Their IA
Tiers were her ftlow-slayce fshc is libcrat-
ed and comes North. what is to become of
them? How is she to lie rcconc;lci to leaving
them in slavery? How can We be assured that !
the masters who own or to whom you will sell
them before leaving for California, will prove
as humane and liberal as you arc?
You inform me that 1.-The friends Of Liberty
in New York or hcrcabout, will no doubt
make up the 1000 you demand, in order to
give this daughter Of Il Georgia Judge her
freedom. think aud trust you misapprchend
them. For though they have to my certain
under the influence of special APP
peals to their sympath:es and in view Of pccu- |
liar dangers or hard>hips paid great deal /
more money than they could comfortably spare |
(few of them being rich) to buy individual
slaves out OF bondage, yet their Judgment has |
never approved such payment of tribute to |
man-thicves, and every days earnest consider
alton causes it to be regarded with less and |
less favor. For it is not the snaching of here
and there person from Slavery at the posi-
Die rate OF one for every thousand increase OF
our slave population, that they desire. but the ,
overthrow and determination Of the sIarehoId-
ing system; and this end. they realize, is rath-
er hindered than helped by their buying here
and there slave into freedom. Ifbv so buy
ing ten thousand a year, at cost of Ten Mil .
lions of Dollars, they should confirm you and /
other shareholders in the misconccption that
Slavery is regarded without adherence by in
telligent Christian freemen at the North, they ,
would be doing great harm to their cause and .
INJURY to their iclow-Christains in bondage
gu may lave heard. perhaps. of the sentiment
proclaimed by Decatur to the Shareholders of
the Barbary CONSULTATIONS for defense--not
cent for Tribute .'--and perhaps also of its
in the Scotch ballad
lnstead OF broad pieces we'n pay the broaiswords-
but 1.-THE friends of Liberty in this quarter
VIII hight her battle neither with lead nor steel
much less with gold. Their trust is in the
might OF OpiniOn--in the resistless power of
Truth where Discussion is untrammeled and |