Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-04-19

Treos,ver, JAMES T. soUTrER, New York,
r. SHUBBARD WISsLow, New York,
SE1H BLISS, New York
The first thing that struck us as remarkable
was the fact that MEssRs. 8. A. HAvEMEYER.
CHARLEs NJ Fry, F. c. HAvExEYER, FRED.
LACY. EzRAW WHEELER, BOwLEs r. NICKNAME,
HENRY S. FEARING, GEORGE c. COLLINS,
DWIGHT TOWNSEND, and Others" who made
the request, should have found it necessary
to send up to YERMos:T, Of all places in the
world, to get discussion of the two topics
above named. Is there not in New York or IN
some place near by,any person in whom com
bine the qualities Of bishop, age and er
pclence, capable Of discussing those sub
iects? 1t seems to us there ought to be.
Perhaps. though, there Is no one there who.
in discussing them, would each the conclu-
sious which the gentlemen aforesaid were
predetermined to have reached, and that in
some way they had ascertained that the an
swer from BISHOP IIoTKINs would meet their
want exactly. II so, We suppose they may
be excused for favorins our strong ant-slave-
~ little State in this way and we viii try
to wear as meekly a. we can the honor Of
giving birth to A production thought worthy
of an edition Of %, 600, as the opening pub
Ication Of the braud-ncw Sc American Soci-
ety." got up expressly for " Promoting
National Unity
If this pamphlet had had a remote origin
say in South Carolina, or Virginia-we should
not have noticed it. In fact, if it had hailed
from New York, We should not have thought
it worth while to give time or place Ito it.
But coming as it docs from VERMONT, from
BURLINGTON, within sight of our own doors,
and likely to be circulated and read by many
in our own region who have long known the
author as q religious teacher in our State,we
feel if it would hardly do to give it entire
| " the so-by. Here we Will remark that
though we had seen a few c1tracfs from the
letter in some Of the furious pro-slavery news
papers of the State. accompanied with very
Mandatory notices, the letter as n whole never
met our eye till a day or two since, though
we had often inquired for it.. The extracts
referred to. gave us a very imperfect concep-
ton Of the whole work.
We have read it carefully, and we intend
there shalt appear soon a more extended no
tice Of it. just now we can only give the
substance Of the two main conci. Sons OF the
author, and the general opinion we have of
his WORK. The first conclusion, in his own
words, Is this The si1rry Of thc negro
rae, as maintained IN The Southern States. ap-
peas 10 me fully authorized both in he Old |
and the Ne,C Testament." In his progress
towards this sweeping proposition the
author touches upon many subordinate points
Of the subject, all of which he decides quite
IN accordance with the conclusion Just quot
ed. In fact, as he views it, slavery for all
who are effected by it in the southern States, +
livery rare and EXCEPTIONAL cases excluded
there not being enough Of them to affect ap-
probably the result) Is most CAPITAL Al
FAIR, every way according to Holy Scripture.
and for the slaves the very best arrangement
possible-so good indeed, that there seems to
be in Bishop Hopkins view no reason why
any one of them should evor be made free.
In fact. as he putt 1t, they are 80 much
better off than even labjrers all over
the world. that these last might were it not
for The duty Of being contented with their
LOO, very properly regret that they had not
been negroes, so that they could enjoy the
privileges. immunities and exemptions of
slaves in our Southern States
As for the arguments by which the
above main conclusion and it's several sub
ordinate ones are. in the authors view, es-
we have only TO say here. land
we use no severer language than the author
Of the letter uses towards those whom he
condemns for acting contrary to the spirit of
his own belief in the NATTER that from any
man Of any reputation for learning and ablli-
ty, we never saw Its lnaccuracy in the use of I
terms as applied to questions of history and {
it's untairness 1--WE will not suppose ;
it intended), In Ignoring large portion of !
Sacred Writ, and perverting the tenor of ,
some noticeable passages of Scripture, and its
of views on the profoundest s
relations of man to man and of man to
God, surpassed, and rarely equalled.
Having reached such monstrous conclu- I
ion on the ,norGlquestion, to which ten of the
welve pages of the pamphlet are devoted,
I is not to be wondered at that the concIu S
ion on the legal or Constitution al question is t
uite in accordance with the other. Bishop o
hopkins believes ''the Southern States have Il
right to secede - and be charges all the e
,lame of their doing 50 on the Northern a
i ties repeating against them in short metre,
be usual slang charges to be found in the y y
peeches of Southern fire-eaters land in the IL N
ldes of extreme pro-slavery journals. In u
lain truth, his argument on this point as on
ell as on the other is below contempt. "a
As to the use to be made of this letter,
,cording to the manuscript note accompany ie
x the copy sent us, we have only to say ga
IA; il Messrs. Samuel Finley Breeze Morse, ST
resident of the American Society for pro- to
citing National Unity and its Secretaries, =,
II. Hubbard Winslow and Mr. Seth Bliss, r.
uld find no stronger material to begin their ma