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VOL. 1.
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NO. 35.
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LETTER FROM FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
i.ASS.
REPLY TO MR. C. THOMPSON.
T.i ihi E liter f the Liberator.-
Dzar Friend: For the sake of our righ
teous cause, 1 was delighted to sen by an ex
tract copied into tha Liberator of 13th Dec.,
IB 15, from the Delaware Kepuhlic,in. that
Mr. A. C. C. Thompson, No. 101, M.irkel
street, Wilmington, has undertaken to invali
date my testimony against the slaveholders,
whose names 1 havo made prominent in the
narrative of my experience while in slavery.
Slaveholders and tlave-traders never lio
tray greater indiscretion, than when tin y ven
ture to defend themselves, or their system of
plunder, in any other community than a slave
holding one. Slavery has its cw n standard of
morality, humanity, justice, and Christianity.
Tried by tint standard, it is a system of the
grcati t kindness to the slave sanctioned by
the purest morality in perfect agreement
with justice and, of course, not inconsistent
with Christianity. But, tried by any other,
it is doomed to condemnation. Tito naked
relation of master and slave is one of those
monsters of darkness, to whom ilia light of
truth is death ! The wise ones among the
slaveholders know this, and they studiously
avoid doing anything, which, in their judg
ment, tends to elicit truth. They seem fully
to understand, that their safety is in their
ailencc. They may have learned this wis
dom from Junius, who counselled his oppo
nent. Sir William Draper, when defending
Lord Granby, never to attract attention to a
character, which would only pas3 without
rondemnatbn, when it passej without obser
v lion.
I am now almost too far away to answer
lliis attempted refutation hy Mr. Thompson.
I fear his article will be forgotten, before you
Rt my reply. I, however, think the whole
thing worth reviving, as it is seldom we have
so good a cie for dissection. In any coun
try but thn United St ilea, I might hope to
get a hearing through tha paper in which I
was attacked. But (his would be inconsist
ent with American usago and migmnimity.
It would be folly to expect such a hearing.
Tliey might possibly advertise me as a runa
way slave, ui d share the reward of my ap
prehension; but on no other condition would
they allow my reply a place in their columns.
In this, however, 1 may judge the '-Republican"
harshly. It may be that, having ad
mitted Mr. Thompson's article, the editor will
think it but fair negro though I am to al
low my reply an insertion.
In replying to Mr. Thompson, I shall pro
ceed as I usually do in preaching the slave
holder's sermon, dividing the subject under
two general heads, as follows:
1st, Tho statement of Mr. Thompson, in
confirmation of the truth of my narrative.
Undly. His denials of its truthfulness.
Under tho first, I beg Mr. Thomson to ac
cept my thanks for his full, free and unsoli
cited testimony, in regard to my identity.
There now need be no doubt on that point,
(however much there might have been before.
. Your testimony, Mr. Thompson, has settled
the question forever. I (jive you tho fullest
credit for tho deed, siying nothing of the
motive. But lor you, sir, the pro-slavery
people in tho North might havo persisted,
-with some show of renson, in representing
.me as being ui impostor a free negro who
had never bean south of Mason & Dixon's
line one whom the abolitionists, acting on
the Jesuitical principle, that the end justifies
the means, had educated and sent forth to at
tract attention to their faltering cause. I am
greatly indebted to you, sir, for silencing
.those truly prejudicial insinuations. I wish
3 could make yon understand the amount of
-service you have done. You have complete
ly tripped up the heels of your pro-slavery
friends, and laid them flat at tny foet. You
have done a piece of anti-slavery work, which
no anti-slavery man could do. Our cautious
and truth-loving people of New England
"would never have believed this testimony, in
proof of my identity, had it been borne by an
abolitionist. Not that they really think an
.abolitionist capable of bearing false witness
intentionally ; but such persons are thought
fanatical, and to look at everything through
- a;.,.....! milium. Their will hAlieve vou
Bliiawiwu i.iky. ... .... j ... mi
they will belive a slaveholder. They
have, uine how or other, imbibed (and
confess strangely enough 1 tho wes mat per.
eons such as jourself are dispassionate, ira
1
partial and disinterested, and tliereluro capa
ble of giving a fair representation of things
connected with slavery. Now, under these
circumstances, your testimony is of the ut
most importance. It will serve to give effect
to my exposures of slavery, both at home
and aliroid. I hope I shall not administer to
your vanity when I tell you that you seem
to have been raised up for this purpose! I
fame to this land wilS tho highest testimo
nials from some of the most intelligent and
distinguished abolitionists in the United
States; yet some here have entertained nnd
expressed doubt as to whether I havo over
been a slave. You may easily imagine the
perplexing and embarrassing nature of my
situation, and how anxious f must have been
to be relieved from it. You, sir, have re
lieved me. I now stand before both the A
merican and British public, endorsed by you
as being just what I have ever represented
myself to bo to wit, an American tlare.
You s ay, " 1 knew this recreant slave by
the namo ol Frederick Baily" ( instead, of
Douglass.) Yes, that was my name; and
leaving out the term recreant, which savors a
little of bitterness, yneir testimony is direct
and perfect just what I have long wanted.
But you are not yet satisfied. You seem de
termined to bear the most ample testimony
in my favor. You say you knew me when I
lived with Mr. Covey. And with most of
the persons" mentioned in my narrative,
" you aro intimately acquainted." This is
excellent. Then Mr. Kdward Covey is not
a creature of my imagination, but really did
and may yet exist.
You thus brush away the miserable insinu
ation of my northern pro-slavery enemies,
that I have used fictitious not real names.
You siy "Col. Lloyd waea wealthy plan
ter. Mr. Core was onco an overseer for Col.
Lloyd, hut is now living nair St. Michael's,
is respected, nnd you believe he is a mem
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr.
Thomas Auld is an honorable and worthy
member of the Methodist Kpiscopal Church,
and all that can be said of him is, that he is
a gooil Christian," &c, Do allow me,
onci-unre, to tl.ank you for this triumphant
vin lic.ition of the truth of my statements ;
and to show you how highly I value your
testimony, I will infjrm yon that I am now
publishing a second edition of my narrative
in this country, having already disposed of
the first. I will insort your article with my
reply as an appendix, to the edition now in
progress. If you find any fault with my fre
quent (hanks, you may find some excuse IV
me in the fact, that I havo serious fears that
you will be but poorly thanked by those
whose characters yon h ive felt it your duty
to defend. 1 am almost certain they will
regard you as running before you were sent,
and as having spoken when you should have
been silent. Under these trying circuinsttin
ces, it is evidently the duty of those interested
in your welfare to extend to you such words
of consolation as may ease, if not remove,
tho pain of your sad disappointment ! But
enough of this.
Now, then, to the second part or your
dentals. You are confident 1 did not wrilo
the book ; and the reason of your confidence
is, that whn you knew me, 1 was an un
lenrncd and r,i liter uu ordinary nejro. Well,
1 have to admit I was rather an ordinary ne
uro when you know me, and I do not claim
to be a very extraordinary one now. But you
knew me under vury unfavorable circumstan
ces. It was when I lived with M,. Covey,
the negro-breaker, and member of the Metho
dist Church. I had just been living ith
Master Thomas Auld, where Iliad been re
duced by hunger. M ister Thomas did not
allow me enough to eat. Well, when I lived
with Mr; Covey, I was driven so hard, and
whipt so often, that my soul was crushed
and my spirits broken. I was a mere wreck.
The degridation to which I was then sub
jected, as 1 now look baok to it, seems more
like a dream than a horrible reality. I can
scarcely realize how I ever passed through
it, without quite losing all my moral and in
tellectual energies, 1 can easily understand
tha you sincerely doubt if I wrote tho nar
rative ; for if any one had told me, seven
years ago, I should ever be able to write
such an one, I should have doubted as strong
ly as you i.ow do. You must not judge Ine
now by what I then was a change of cir
ciiinstanecs has iri:ie a surprising change in
me. Frederick Douglass, the freem.tn, is
a very different person from Frederick Bai
ley, the thive. 1 feel myself almost a new
man freedom has given me new lifu. I
tancy you would scarcely know me. 1 think
1 have altered very much in my general ap
pearance, and know 1 have in my manners.
You remember when I used to meet you on
the road to St. Michael's, or near Mr. Co
vey's lane gate, I hardly dared to lift my
head, and look up at you. If I should meet
you now, amid the free hills of old Scotland,
where the ancient " black Douglass " once
met his foes, I presume I might summon suf
ficient fortitude to look yon full in the face ;
and were you to attempt to m ike a slave of
ine, it is possible you might una me almost
a disagreeable a subject, a was the Doug
lass to whom I have just referred. Of one
thing, I am certain you would see a great
ehnnse in me !
1 trust 1 have now explained away your
reason for thinking i did not write the narra
tive in question.
You next deny the existence of such cru
Hv in Maryland at I reveal in my narrative ;
and ask. with true marvellous simplicity,
" could it be possible that charitable, feeling
men could murder human beings with as 1 it
r My former nam.
tie remorse as the narrative of this infamous
libeller would make ua believe; anJ that the
laws of Maryland, which operato alike upon
black and white, bond and free, could permit
such foul murders to pass unnoticed?"
No," you say " it is impossible." I am
not to determine what charitable, feeling men
can do ; but, to ahow what Maryland slave
holders actually do, their charitable feeling is
to be determined by their deeds, and not their
deeds by their charitable feelings. The cow
skir, makes as deep a gash in my flesh, when
wielded by a professed saint, as it does when
wielded by nu open sinner. The deadly
musket does as fatal execution when its trig
ger is palled by Austin Core, tho Christian,
as when the nme is done by Ileal Dondly,
the infidel. The best way to ascertain what
those cliaritable, feeling men can do, will bo
to point you to the laws made by them, and
which you say operate alike upon the white
and the black, the bond and the free. By
consulting tho statute laws of Maryland, you
will find the following: Q- " Any slave
for rambling in the night, or riding horses in
the day time without leave, or running away,
may bo punished by' whipping, cropping,
branding in the cheek, or otherwise. not ren
dering him unfit for labor." p. 3H7. Q
Then another: Or" Any slave onvic
ted of petty treiso.n, murder, or wilful burn
ing of dwelling-houses, may be sentenced to
have the right hand cut off, to be hanged in
the usual way his head severed from his
body the body divided Into four quarters,
and the hnad and quarters set up in the most
public place whore such act was committed."
p.lKO.-CO
Now, Mr. Thompson, when yon consider
with what ease a slave msy be convicted of any
one or all of these crimes, how bloody and
atrocious do those laws appear! Yet, sir,
they are but tho breath of those pious and
charifjbTe, feeling men, whom you would de
fend. I am sure 1 have recorded in my nar
rative, notiiing so revoltingly cruel, murderous,
infernal, as may bo found in your own stat
ute book.
You say that the laws of Maryland operato
alike upon the white and black, the bond and
free. If you mean by this, that the parties
named are nil equally protected by law,
you perpetrate a falsehood as big as that
told by I'residont Polk, in his inaugural ad
dress. It is a notorious fact, even on this
side of the Atlantic, thai a black man can
not testify against a white man in any Court
in Maryland, or any other slave State. If
you do not know fiis.'you are more than
ordinarily ignorant, and are to be pitied rather
than censured. I will not say ' that the de
tection of this falsehood proves all vou have
said to bo false" for 1 wish to avail myself
of your testimony, in regard to my identity,
uui i win say, you nave mane vourseii ve
ry liable to suspicion.
I will close these remarks by saying
your positive opposition to slavery is fully
explained, and will be well understood by anti-slavery
men, when you vay the evil of the
system does not fall upon the slavo but the
slaveholder. This is liko Raying that the
evil of being burnt is not felt by the person
burnt, but by him who kindles up the fire a-
FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
Perth, (Scotland.) 27th Jan. 1846.
THE UNIVERSALISTS.
The following Protest is the one adopted
by tho general convention of Uuiversalists in
September last, and which was directed to bo
circulated among the clergy of that denomi
nation for signatures.
PROTEST.
It is not from an idle curiosity, but from
a deep interest in the signs and promises of
better days, that we deNsiro to know how
stands the ministry of tho Universalis! church,
in reference to the groat question of Ameri
can Slavery. The moasuro hereby adopted,
is ono that promises such a result, as the re
quest is preferred to every minister of the
u lliversaltsi ueuouilliautm ill nit) iiiiii u
State, with brotherly affection and true ro
spect. We wihh, moreover, to know from
whom wo can export hearty fellowship and
co-operation iu our prayers, our pleas, and our
lanors, to auvance mu cauan ui uuiuju r mo
dotn.and lowborn we canlook forsyuipathy in
our abhorrence and detestation of that system
which dctoys, as lar as man has power to
destroy the grand distinction between man
kind and brutes, and which holds in perpet
ual bondage three and a half millions of our
fellow creatures. We believe that by pre
senting a united front, we can add something
to the moral power that is creating a deep hor
ror at the monstrous wrong oi oiavery, nuu
that shall gather strength and greatness till
human nature cannot withstand the majesty
of the demand to " let the oppressed go free,"
but shall glorify God by loyally to Right
and Duty. .With this desire, hope and trust,
we offer our Protest against American Slave
ry, in the following reasons t '
1.. UeCaUa It uenioe Ul cteiuui uit'iii,;-
lion between a man and property, ranking a
human being with a material thing. The at
tributes of the soul forbid such a classilication ;
for that alone can be recogniied as property
which is not wronged by tho act of being
owned by another. To man was originally
given dominion over the lower order of ani
mals that he might hold them as property,
but he hat no right nor grant.to owu hit fel-
Inur hninor. .
2. Because Slavery does not award to the
laborer the fruits of hia toll, in any higher
nu than to cattle. All the claim to any
property vn to the fruit of the tillage of
tho smallest plat of ground depend on the
will of him who claims 1 y the same tenure,
both the soil and the laborer. Man was cre
ated to own, and not to be owned ; the claim
of another upon the fruits of his toil as upon
tho product of the service of a mere animal,
overlook tho higher nature and the abso
lute rights of a human being.
3. Because Slavery trammels tho intellec
tnal powers and prevents iheir expansion.
The expansibility of the human mind is one
of its chief glories, and endless means are ap
propriated to it by its Creator. To labor sys
tematically to dwarf tho intellect, is lo pre
vent the opening to a full vision, cf the rye
that God made, wherewith man should see
him in the manifestations of himself through
his laws. This Slavery does. It denies "to
the slavo even the alphabet of knowledge, the
simplest elements of intellectual progress
The very enactment of law which forbid,
under heavy penalties, any one to teach the
slave to read and write, implies nil that wo
claim for his intellectual capacity, and mani
festly declares that tho maintenance of the
System depends upon dwarfing the intellect.
I. Because Slavery checks the develope
mentofthoii.or.il l ature of the slavo. Itde
nics him right, and thereby denies hi in re
sponsibility. With the denial of his man
hood, necessarily goes his accountability;
for where the distinction between persons and
things is lost, tho duties and responsibilities
of the person are merged and lost in the thing.
The slavo is, to all the intents and purposes,
proprry, clep.ivoj of his moral nature, and
thereby of his participation in a common hu
manity. 5. Because Slavery involves a practical
denial of the religious naturo of tho slave.
The supreme will, to ftie slave, is tho will of
the master; and that which dwarfs the intel
lect, and checks the development of the mor
al nature, must he opposed to religious growth.
It takes (roui the victim the means which
Gud has furnished to beget and foster a true
and filial reverenco towards Himself, and
gives him no religion but credulity. It shuts
up the Diblf from the slavo as effectually as
ever Popery did from the peopb in the dark
days of its lerrilfic. power.
G. Becduso Slavery presents an insur
mountable barrier to tho propagation of the
great truth of the Universal Brotherhood, and
thereby most elTecttmlly prevents the progress
of true Christianity. Under its broad shad
ow, Universilisni cannot grow. The seed is
at Dost, sown among thorns that check its
vegetation. Under the legitimate influences
of such a system, the soul cannot regard with
favor the religien which has tho same voice
and tone, the same commands and warnings,
the same hope and promises, for him who is
regardo l as i. thing and classed with cattle,
a for the moat elevated and gifted of the hu
man race. And inasmuch as Slavery denies
the inequality that exists, by the attributes of
human nature, between man and man, it can
not but frownon the religion of Christ, which
if based on that equality, and whoso great
and fundamental principle of morality is "do
unto others as ye would that they should do
unto you. "
7. Because the essential nature of Slave
ry cannot be altered by any kindness, how
great soever, practiced towards the slave.
Kindness is but flowers in the links of the
chain whose iron eats into the soul, and no
sweetness can lull the moral seme into for
gotfulness of what slavery is. The highest
kindness is comparatively nothing, while the
manhood of the slave is denied or forgotten;
for the first demand of love is, to respect the
rights of tini'thor. Whilo many slaveholders
m y, according to their roureplion of things,
practice the utmost kindness to their slaves,
that cannot alter one feature of deformity in
the system of Slavery.
8. Because the Hug continuance of a sys
tem of wrong cannot palliate it, hut on the
other hand augments tho demand for its abo
lition. New victims are ushered into exist
ence every day, whilo the natural affections
and the sanctities of marriage nd domestic
I il'n are disregarded and made subordinate to
the interests of property.
9. Bocause while we would in all charity
lemombcr that peculiarities of situation may
affect the judgment anil moral sense, still we
must not forget, that no peculiarity of situa
tion can excuse. a perpetual denial of uuiver
sal principle and obligations. Freedom is
not the gift of charters and communities; it
is not a benefit bestowed by geographical lo
calities, but it is inherent in man man, by
the attributes of his nature. Our religion de
mands of ui, with a voice that cannot be si
lenced, that no limit of territory shall be per.
mitted to exclude man' from our sympathy,
and do conventional laws shall supersede the
eternal requisitions of justice and mercy.
American Slavery is a system oi urong?,
from its first principle to its crowning as-
aiimntlon: and in us nam ui oyuu nic iminu
all the iuiquities that have eaten out the life
of communities and nations. It legalizes sins
that are abhorrent to the simplest moral sense ;
nnd in the increasing intelligence and philan
thronv of the nresent age, it becomes more
and more a stiirma on pur National Name, a
o irse to our country' prosperity, ind a giant
moral evil that must be overthrown, or it win
overthrow n by the retributive justice of
Hun who hi declared tti ruth " Ktght-
eousnes exalteth a nation, but sin is t re
nroach to anv people, "
For these reasons we prot3t against Ilia
vstem of American Slavery as utterly wrong,
and confess our obligation to use all justifia
ble means to promote It Abolition.
If a man is happy and contented in slave
ry, h knows not tho feelings or s man.
From the Independent Democrat.
GOVERNOR MORTON AND SOUTHERN
SENATORS.
If ever there was a time when every man
of the North was called upon to rouse him
self, and speak out on the preat question f
Slavery, and the rapid augmentation of the
lave power in tho Union, now is the mo
ment. To the shame of every son cf the pil
grims, be it spoken, to the eternal l.iifamy of
the base pimp of corruption who have pros
trated themselves and the Government be
neath the iron car of Slavery ther are men
now at Washington, plotting with might and
main, to procure the rejection of Democrat
from office by Southern Senators, on the sola
ground of their former opposition to Slavery.
There are scores of men Irom New England,
nay, from New Hampshire, tiie whole bur
den of whose song against certain appoint
ment of the President, is their former aboli
tion sentiments.
Now, bo far as the ofTicrs are concerned,
we care not whether they aro filled by this
man or that. We care as little for the in
the outs. Unprincipled partisanship rather
than honest integrity, have, as usual, formed
the chief recommendations. But we do think
it lime for every frrand of liberty and inde
pendence to pause and tremble for his coun
try, when, as now, i: i9 openly proclaimed St
the 9eat of Government, that n man can hold
office, with the advice of the Senate, who has
ever, even among the mountain fastnesses of
New Hampshire, darod to breathe forth tha
deep throbbings of a soul all unpalsied by the '
mildew of human servitude.
We think it time for every freeman of New
Hampshire whose spirit is still uncurbed by
the iron bit of Slavery, to tell the South 4n a
voice worthy of our fi triers, that when the
slave power attempts to chiin tha free speech
of tho North, it is treading on forbiddaa
ground.
A great effort ha been, and still is making,
to procure the rejeclion of Governor Morton,
Collector at Boston, for the crime of havinf,
while Governor of Massachusetts, signed re
olutione of the Legislature against'the An
nexation of Texas. For this, one would think
he might have atoned by his subsequent ser
vility to the South. But it seem Southern
Senators do not s easily forgivo the crime of
opposition to the peculiar institution. "
The mark of Cain is upon him. and no after
repentance can efface the brand. With Gov
ernor Morton's present position as a man, wa
nave not mucn sympathy. Nor can wa
respect the crouching meanness with which
he attempts to sustain himself, by denying
his former opposition to Slaverv. That citi
zen of New England who will either apolo
gize fcr, or plead not guilty to such a charge,
is a disgrace to his age ard to the memory of
his fathers. We have no respect for any
Northern man, who, for the naltrv consider.
ation of an office, will bend and crouch be-
lore a power as fearfully hostile to the liber
ties of our country, as to the happiness of our
race.
Had Governor Morton renlied to the char.
ges of abolition and opposition to Texas, a a
Northern man should ; had he, instead of de
nying and attempting to disprove the charira.
boldly and fearlessly thrown himself upon
the North; had ho stood up like a man, and
said to the South and to Southern Senators,
i am a iorlhern man, and a irea man.
V hat I have written or spoken arrainst Slav
ery, I wrote and said as a Northern and a free
man. In what I said, I but spoke the uni
versal sentiment of the North, fly'that I am
willing to stand or fall. You may, gentle
men, strike me down; but let me toll vou.
that the whole people of the North will also
teei the blow aye, and avengo it too."
Had he thus spoken, and thus acted, how
infinitely would Governor Morton now stand
above his present pitiable position ! With
what enthusiasm might he have rallied the
united Democracy of New England to hia
rescue 1 How proudly tower above his en
emies, defying alike tha slave power at tha
South, and its tools at tho North! As it is,
he may fall a sacrifice to hia former charac
ter as a freeman; but his latter servility
will permit no friend of liberty to avenge his
death, or weop at his gravo,
Slavery in Maryland. The slaveholders
in Queen Anne's county, Md., recently held
a meeting and passed a lot of resolutions in
cluding these i
IlavlveJ, That tho Legislature of this Stata
ba requested to pass a law prohibiting frea
negroes in this Stato, under heavy penalties,
from leaving the State and returning again.
except as servants to a white citizen.
Itemlved, I hat in like manner they ba re
quested to prohibit by law, under severe pen
alties, the assembling or negroes in publia
bodies, especially at what are usually called
" bush meetings."
Unparalleled Cruelty to a Slats.
We don't know when emotions of horror have
been mors excited in us than when wa aaw
in a late paper the fact that the Legislature
of Alabama had passed an act to emancipate
Horatio King, a slave who had built an ex
cellent bridge over the Wetumpka river.
Poor King ! Our heart bleed fur him I Ha
felt that he had a soul above cotton picking,
an intellect which enabled him to rise to an
equality with the white race. He made tha
edort succeedad, and foriAi'jhe is condemn
ed to perpetual freedom 1 Soma one offered
his master $15,000 for him, with tha inten
tion no doubt of taking him ta tha slave's par
adisethe mora congenial soil and climate"
of Texas, but this happy lot was denied him !
And now what shall ba do 1 Shail ha re
