Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-10-24
C'4N'I
ONLY, NEAR ONANCOCK,


Accomack Co., Va, Oct, 5:h. 1855
GENTLEMEN On my return home.
ter an absence Of some days, / found
ting me to deliver one of the lectures OF
the cOurseeon Slavery, at fremont Tenn
pie, in the city of Boston, on Thursday
evening, January lO,h, 1856, or If that
time will not suit my engagements, You
request that l will mention at once, what
Thursday evening between the middle of
December and the middle Of March next,
will best accommodate me"
Now, Gentlemen. desire to pay you due
respect, yet you compel me to be very
plain with you, and to say that your re-
quest, in every respect, is insulting and Of
ensive TO me. What subject of slavery
have you I" Lpitiate2' lectures uDon l
cOnnoL conceal it from myself that you
have undertaken, IN Boston, TO discuss and
to decide 20Aether my P0perty, an Virginia,
ought to remain mine or not, aud whether ii
shall be allowed the protection Of law,
federal and State. wherever it may be car
ried or may escape in the United States );
or, whether it shall be destroyed by highs
er laws than constitutions aud statutes
WHO are you, to assume thus such n jus
rlsdctlon over subject so delicate and
already fixed in its relations by solemn
compact between the States, and BY States
which are Soy ereign will not obey
your summons, nor recognize your juris.
dic'ion. You have no authority and no
justification for thus calling me to account
at the bar Of tribunal, and for thus
arraigning an institution established by
laws which do not reach you and which
you cannot reach, by calling on me TO de-
lcnd it.
You send me a card, to indicate the char
acter of the lecturers. 1t reads:
Admit the bearer and lady to the In
dependent Lectures on Slavery. Lecture
Committee, S. G. Howe. T. Gilbert, Geo.
F. Williams. Henry I. Parker, w. Wash.
burn B. 3. Mussey, w. B. Spooner, Jas.
w. Stone"
It is endorsed
Lectures at the fremont Temple,
Boston, l854-5. November 23d, Hon.
Chas. Summer, Rev. John Pierpoint, po-
EN-. December 7, Hon. Salmon p. Chase,
OF Ohio. December IA, Hon. Arson
Burlingam. December 27, Wendell Phil
lips, Esq. December a. Cassius NJ. CLAW,
Esq, of Kentucky. January 4, Hon. II.
Greeley. January II, Rev. Henry Ward
Belcher. January 18, Hon. John p.
Hale. January 95, Ralph Waldo Emer-
son, Esq. February 8, Hon. Samule p.
Banks, Jr. February 18, Hon. Lewis D..
Campbell. of Ohio. February 22, Hon.
Samuel Houston, of Texas. March 1,
Hon. David WiImot, of Pennsylvania.
March 8, Hon. Charles w. Uphann. -
Al Honorable and SYuires, except those
who are Reveyends! The card does veri.
| ly indicate their characters by simply
naming them. And your letter, gentle-
men, is ranked by &c. Sumner, q. s. s.,
With these characters, am at no loss to
understand you and your purposes.
You say, during the next season, a
larger number -of gentlemen from the
South, will be invited" &C., DC. Ire,
greet it, ifany others can be found in the
Slaye-hOlding States to accept your invi.
tation. You plead the example Of Gener-
al Houston. 1t Is the last / would follow.
have no doubt that you accorded very
respectful attention to him last winter.
and were very grateful to him for his
Iserv1ces in your cause.
You ofer IS one hundred and fifty dol-
lars 70 be paid to the lecturer, he bearing
his own expenses" Let me ten you that
fremont Temple cannot hold wealth
4enough to purchase one word Of discussion