The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-08-11

To THE EDITOR OF THE COURIER,

4
: To THE EDITOR OF THE COURIER,
Dear Sir
In writing my first series of letters, Itook
the liberty ofdeyoting the last of them to an
examination of Mr.. Fowlers assertion that,
I'VE have no right to discuss the slavery ques-
ton" whilst he is constantly discussing it
himself =
In his concluding remarks in your paper,
he has made some allusion to that letter, ofa
nature not very complimentary to me, or
creditable to himself Had he taken no no.
tice Of that letter; had he let it pass with
the public for what it was worth the lines
which now feel it my duty to pen, would
never have appeared in your paper.
My purpose in writing that letter, was to
show that Mr.. F. labors under small mistake;
that we not only have the right to discuss it,
but that it is q sacred duty, from which, in
duty to our God and our country, we are
not at liberty to shrink. He has noticed
the letter, but has he noticed the nas,tter
which drew it forths Has he reasserted and
defended his teachings, that we have no right
to discuss it? He has done nothing of the
kind. Ihave shut him up-kicked him over
the ''precipice." In this he has shown the
unerring marks Of deinagogue ;-he has
not the skill to defend himself, or the man.
hood to acknowledge defeat. am quite
content that your readers should place my let
ter and his remarks upon il, side by side, read
the one, and then the other; then say, where
is the victorious Eagle 'percheds If he is
"mum," and cannot show on paper that we
have no right to discuss the relative merits
of freedom and slavery, then it is to be hoped
he will cease to annoy people in future with
his illogical light" on this point.
Pretending to address himselfto Mr.. Taun-
ton, he nevertheless in side-way assails my
historical accuracy; but just mark hosc he
does it-he is very cautious here; knows
that his stock Of history is very limited !;
therefore caution is the word-he does not
exactly deny some things have stated, but
only says he was mot aware that these
things were so, until informed by Mr.. t.
there is nothing to show that Mr.. T. has in
formed him of any thing relating to the
burning of Washington; but certainly
have. I, therefore, shall reply to his waspish
criticism
!, He says there was no rising of slaves in
the Revolutionary war, and from that he
infsrs, without even protesting to know any
thing about it, that there could be nothing of
the kind in the subsequent war. Here
beg leave to differ from him-we cannot af.
ford to build up history upon his differences;
If he is ignorant of historical fact, must his
ignorance be held as valid reason for blot
ting that fact from the historic page ? Now
can tell him that 100 slaves did join the
British on Tangiers Island and that at the
treaty of Ghent, negotiated by Henry Clay
& Go, indemnity was claimed by them of
the British for these same slaves but the
negotiators being unable to agree on the
amount of indemnity, it was referred to the
Emperor Alexander OF Russia, who awarded
the sum of about $500 for each slave; and
1t ,cas paid. If Mr.. f. don't know this,
can't help it. He had plenty Of friends at
Washington, suppose; let him write to
them-the facts are on the national archives;
and with these facts before us, it is quite
clear that slavery did have something to do
with the burning Of Washington. \,
And now let US examine his (F's) histori
ical accuracy; he makes the burning Of
Washington to have occurred in ,1S12--this
!, is not true-it was burned in 1814, two years
after he burns it. f ss,-
Again he says that the slaves Of the British
West Indies were emancipated by a "spe-
cial act of Parliament, giving them immedi-
ate liberty"-here is another gr I've historical
error If he had accepted Mr.. T.'s version
Of that noble act, he would at least have done
noviolence to history with the word "truth'
on his lips, he shuts his eyes to its plainest
dictates; stops his ears to its loudest thun-
der. The slaves Of the British Indies, SO
far from receiving immediate liberty, were
not free until seven years after the passage
of the emancipation act-until the expiration
Of the seven years, their labors were con-
tinued by oompulsion, and certain privileg-
cs were granted to them they received at
the same time, acourse ofeducstional train.
ing, to fitthem for their future political, moral
and socialstate ofexistence. Here was what
in regard to time, we might call an ''inclined
plane" Of seven years, up which the slaves
were gradually drawn, and ct the end q
which, without violence or turmoil without
a drop Of white blood shed, they were landed
upon the great table land Of human liberty
This historical fAct, 90 pleasing to ths
Christian and the Philanthropist, our new
apostle of Despotism strives to expunge from
the historic page, and substitute for Il, pim
mediate emancipation" One of two thing,
is certain, either Mr. F. knew these thing
to be facts, or he did not II hs knew then
to be facts, how does he justify his falsifica
tion of them 2. -bow reconcile it with hi
proposed cravings Of the struth.' If he Al,