The voice of freedom. [volume], May 11, 1839, Image 2

About The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848

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The following notice of a book which has fal
len dead from the press, notwithstanding its en
dorsement and adoption by the Secretary of the
American Colonization Society, is from the pen of
Professor Wright.
m Abolition a Sedition ; By a Northern Man.
Pniladelphia, George V. Donohue, 1S39.' 12
mo. pp. 137."
We have not heard whether the author of this
little book occupies lodging? in an Insane Hospi
tal or not, but we know several worthy men who
do, whose minds are in better order. It s very
fortunate for abolitionists, nt any rate, that the type
cf insanity under which he labors is not very com
mon. Had it been so forthelast half dozen years,
what n forest of gibbets would our land by this
time have presented ? Opponents of abolitionism
there have been too numerous to count swarming
in moberatic legions and furiou3 as wild bulls in
a net, but their intellects seem to have been pre
served from the hallucination that abolition is a
hangable crime ; that there is any thing seditious
jn seeking to change laws by means of the ballot
box. Indeed the best proof that we can think of
that abolitionists have walked in the path of the
constitution and the law, is that they have not
been made to suffer the penalty of the law. There
has been no want of prosecutors, and of prosecut
ors who knew the law. Men of 'property and
standing,' with whom the law is a favorite weap
on, both of offence and defence, have broken the
law by resorting to fire and tar to suppress aboli
tion ; which they never would have done had the
law been on their side. This discovery of the
author as to the illegal and criminal nature of ab
olitionism, made after the city and county of Phil
adelphia had run In debt fo.rty thousand dollars to
the abolitionists for allowing their Hall to be burnt
down, it strikes u,s should be as good a title to a
lunatic asylum as if he had discovered the per
petual motion, the philosopher's stone, or a gener
al licence in. the statutes of Pennsylvania to rob
hen,-roosts, granaries and banks. It may 3-et be
discovered and proved that the moon is made of
green, cheese, but whoever shall make the discov
ery in regard to the Alleghany mountains must
expect to be asked, 1, Why thi3 was not discover
ed before. 2, Why cheese is a shilling a pound.
Sq we ask our author 1. Why did not the law
yers find this out? 2. Why are the abolitionists
unhung? The general charge on which our au
thor builds his book, is brought as follows, italics
and all :
' We observe then that the American Anti-Slavery
Society, under the authority and by the ac
tion of which, this Movement is conducted, is a
general and permanent political organization, self
erected, self-governed, independent and irresponsi
ble, having no connection with the government of
the country, but yet usurping the appropriate bu
siness of the government.'
If ever we are tried for sedition we hope this
green-horn may be the indicter of our indictment,
as he will doubtless leave out the vi ct armis, the
force and arms. We shall trust then to have the
pleasure of hanging, if we hang at all, together
with divers large soclties, such as those of St.
Tammany, the Masonic, the Temperance, and
above all with King Caucus, and both the political
parties. We do' not see but the entire and univer
sal people of the United States have committed
the crime of sedition. It might be enough to add,
that the whole book is worthy of its imposing
foundation, rivaling the most magnificent of soap
bubbles in splendor and solidity ; but we will give
a single specimen or two of the superstructure.
The author takes great pains to prove that the
seditious organization is political not, however,
by going back to the fountain head, where the
whole might be conclusively proved by quoting
the following from. liie Declaration of Sentiments
of the Covivention which formed the American
Anti-Slavery Society : ' We also maintain that
there are, at the present time, the highest obliga
tions resting upon the people of the free States, to
remove slavery by moral and political action, as
prescribed by the Constitution of the United States.'
And again, in the second article of the constitu
tion of the said society, which certainly pins up
on it the political stigma i
' The society will also endeavor, in a constitu
tional way, to influence Congress to put an end to
the domestic slave trade, and to abolish slavery in
all those portions of our common country which
come under its control, especially in the District of
Columbia, and likewise to prevent the extension
of it to any State that may be hereafter admitted
to tho Union.'
But it belter suits this author to assert that the
society at first actually disclaimed its political char
acter, to which paint he quotes from a paper sign
ed by some of the abolitionists in New York, da
ted July 16th, 183 1, in which they say that it has
been their aim to ' abstain from, mingling the ob
jects of their our society with either of the polit
calparties,' as if there could be no political action
but in one or other of the political parties ! Then,
to prove that the society has seditiously burst its
concealment, he quotes a 'circular' which he says
is ' from the Anti-Slavery office in New York", is
sued for electioneering purposes, in the New York
political campaign of 1839,' urging abolition vo
ters to attach themselves to the Whigs. Now, we
know that no such ' circular' was issued from the
Anti-Slavery office. The whole was a figment of
the Whig newspapers. Here is a forgery brought
to prove a point which was confessed by the Socie
ty itself at its formation! Perhaps we may further
notice the book, if we find that the writer is going
at large.
" A Heroine. A lady livinsr in Wnrren, N. J.,
performed a feat a few nights since, which few wo
men would find the fortitude to do, even under
such circumstances as compelled her to the per
formance. The husband of Mrs. V. was from
home, and late at night she found that a huge ne
gro, from the neighborhood, had made his way in
to her bed-room, no doubt with the very worst de
sign. Her husband had left a loaded gun in the
apartment, which she seized and levelled at the
miscreant. The entire charge entered his body
and killed him instantly." AT. Y. Gazette.
" A Heroine !" And so she was, say wa. If
man ever forfeits life, it is above all when he as
sails fema)e yjr.tue.in.any manner. Such a ' mis
creant' is not fit to. live. And now, mark it, we
say this of any- man, in any rank, of any color.
The above paragraph is going the rounds, and we
have no objection, but cheerfully give it currency.
But let us be understood. While vye would not
cast even a shield of gossamer over the colored
'miscreant,' we ask those editors who have so
promptly published the account, whether they
have ever admitted into their columns one case
THE
from among the thousands of cases which annual
ly occur, of like, precisely like, insults offered col
ored females by white ' miscreants ?' That amia
ble system for which pro-slavery editors have budg
ets of apologies always ready to offer, that system
is the hot-bed nursery of just such 'miscreants,'
with only the difference of a different color of
their superjiccs. That system for which you ap
ologize, or.at which you silently connive, shuts up
and chains the victims of ihe white ' miscreant's'
brutality.and forbid's resistance.and thrusts a 'gag'
into the mouth of the insulted, and calls her the
' miscreant,' if she ' lifts a hand against a white
person.' Such is your system of legal ' miscrean
cy.' Go, then, offer again and again your apolo
gies for the ' whited sepulchres' you protect. But
do it with the distinct apprehension that ye are
known. Nay.be honest, and tell both stories.
Let the world read in your columns that for one
such case of diabolical foulness on the part of
colored men, there are to be set down thousands
on the part of while men, and that these are legal
ized and ' sanctified,' to use the Honorable Henry
Clay's word, by that ' compact" which you say you
will defend and ' fulfil to the letter and to the spir
it' of it. Tell the world this, and we will go with
you in branding every man a 'miscreant' who with
law or without law, whether he is of one color or
another, practices or defends those who do practice
that most infamous of all crimes. But let us have
no more of this partiality this holding up of one
man to execration for a certain act, because of his
complexion, and this upholding of another in the
same act, or leaving him uncauterized. We place
the brand of infamy on the front of that ' miscre
ant' who can connive at the white man's insult of
fered to the colored female, while he affects to be
horror-stricken at the same conduct in the colored
man. The holy God is ' no respecter of persons ;'
neither may we be, if we would escape the indig
nation of his eye, and the vengeance of his hand.
This ' double game' has been played long and suc
cessfully, long enough, and with success to mer
it the sun-light exposure of its ineffable meanness
and unmitigated turpitude. Christian Reflector.
Charles L. Rcinond.
This young man is noticed in the very able re
port of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, in a high
ly commendatory manner. He has been for the
past year engaged as an agent of the American
Anti-Slavery Society in Maine, where, in con
junction with his friend Ichabod Codding, he has
labored with great credit to himself and to the So
ciety of which he is an agent. At the annual
meeting of the State Society, his speeches were
commended by the best judges, as fine specimens
of eloquence and sound reasoning. Although one
of the proscribed class of American citizens a
colored man he has been every where received
among the abolitionists with affectionate kindness ;
and, we understand, has met with little or no dif
ficulty on the score of prejudice in any part of the
state. The report says : "Many, it is believed,
have been induced to attend his lecture, who pth
erwise would not have been brought within reach
of the truth, from the manifest propriety, general
ly felt and acknowledged, that the colored man
should himself plead tho cause of his suffering
people."
We rejoice to be able to record this instance in
which talents, moral worth and gentlemanly de
portment have triumphed over that insane and
cruel prejudice against color, which is the pecu
liar disgrace of our republic. We record it as an
omen of the dawning of a better day for the op
pressed American, It is an evidence (if indeed
such evidence were wanting) that prejudice is
vincible that the disgraceful barrier of caste in
the church, the public conveyance, and the school
house, may be thrown down without endangering
the peace or the happiness of any class in the
community. If we are met here by the question,
Are you in favor of amalgamation? We answer
NO. We loathe and abhor its prevalence in the
slave-cursed South, where alone, to any extent, it
manifests itself. But we are in favor of estima
ting our fellow men, not by the color of the skin,
but by their moral and intellectual qualities. We
have no fellowship whatever with that brutal spir
it which would shut our colored fellow citizens out
of all honorable employments, which closes a
gainst them the door of the school-house, and the
pew of the meeting-house ; which reviles them
for their degradation, and mobs them for seeking
to elevate themselves morally and intellectually
which reproaches them with their ignorance, and
burns their school-houses over their heads; which
condemns them as immoral, find bolts the door of
the meeting-house against them ; which stigma
tizes them as beggars, and kicks them from the
threshhold for offering to earn their bread ! We
look with horror upon that fiendish hatred which
would separate our colored brethren every where
from the courtesies and companionship of those of
another complexion which, in the language of
M. de Beaumont, one of the philanthropic authors
of ' The Penitentiary system of the United States,'
would make " a separation between the colored
and the white in the hospital where humanity
suffers ; in the churches where it prays ; in the
prisons where it repents ; in the grave-yards where
it sleeps the eternal sleep."
We have heen led however from our original
object in commencing this article. We intended
to express our conviction that the cause of the
slave can be pleaded by none more successfully
than by those who ore " allied to him by the ties
of consanguinity, of suffering and of wrong."
Who shall dispute the rights of the free mother
to plead for her children still pining in captivity ?
Who silonce the affectionate appeal of a son in be
half of his mother, driven daily beneath the lash
of the driver in the Southern cotton fields ? Who
deny the wife the privilege of asking compassion
for her husband, sold from her to the valley of the
Mississippi, and wearing out his life on the fatal
sugar plantation? Penn. Freeman.
from the Friend of Man.
A Bold Prediction.
The following, we presume, is from the pen of
Mr. Chester, late editor of the Cincinnati Journal,
and now assistant editor of the New York Evan
gelist. He is well acquainted nt the south, and
we should not be greatly surprized if his anticipa
tions were realized. The- South Carolina states
men must be blind, if their inquiries concerning
the leanness of southern commerce does not reveal
to them the true cause. The Evangelist says :
" Fqrmerly we looked to the northern slave states
to commence the work of emancipation. We
have given this up, and turned our eye to another
quarter. We have a strong conviction that one
of the southern states wjll commence this glorious
work, and that too with a suddenness which shall
VOICE OF FREEDOM.
carry astonishment through Christendom. We
do not expect that the intimation will now be re
garded as worth the space it occupies ; but while
good men at the North are bracing themselves and
bracing the community against the progress of anti
slavery feeling, the jubilee shout of liberty may be
rung from hill and dale of a state now fierce for
slavery, and suddenly along its coasts, its rivers, its
rice and its cotton fields: from its mountain tops
and cavern dopths shall be proclaimed, LIBERTY
TO THE CAPTIVE; THE OPENING OF
THE PRISON TO THOSE WHO ARE
BOUND. There is a state capable of this master
stroke of policy; and she has sons who even now
are looking to the future, with minds chafing un
der a stern destiny that dooms theirproud state to
comparative physical and moral insignificance, un
less some mighty remedy can be found. There is
a remedy, and but one J and this, after every effort
which mind can make to discover another, must
and will be seized on. Emancipation will restore
fertility to her soil, spread again the canvas of her
ships, make her canals and railroads the arteries
of a rich commerce, bind the hearts of her sons
with a justly proud attachment to the state that
gave them birth, and spread abroad through Christ
endom a richer fame than yet has belonged to any
portion of the American continent. Before more
tardy minds can begin to measure the mighty
thought, or take in the length, the breadth, the
compass, the broad field of consequences, her states
men, her wealthy planters, her merchants, her pro
fessional men may meet together in a spontane
ous convention, and decree freedom to every bond
man in the limits of South Carolina. And when
she bestows this boon it will be with a highminded
generosity which will permit it to be encumbered
with no unworthy or selfish clogs. C.
Tremendous Retort.
In the late debate at Cincinnati, between Rev.
J. Blanchard (recently of this state) and R. R.
Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization
Society, the subject of the Maryland emancipation
law being under discussion, the former gentleman
thus closed his half hour speech :
" I arn determined to believe my opponent sin
cere at heart, come what may. I am bound to do
so by the courtesies of debate ; and my heart feels
no disposition to rebel against the rule. But what
must you think of a cause which will not allow
its advocates to disapprove of acknowledged vio
lations of the law of God ? When on the subject
of separating the races, I asked my opponent to
set some day, some one or two hundred years
hence, after which the country ought to emanci
pate the slaves if not colonized before. He did
not reply. He dare not. For he knows that his
friends at the South go for colonization as calcu
lated to make slavery perpetual ! I then implo
red him to tell you and the audience whether he
approved or disapproved of southern slavery. He
was still silent. Then came the Maryland scheme,
tearing apart husbands and wives, mothers and
children ! He tells you the Abolitionists caused
those laws to be made, but he did not, he dares
not, tell you they were wrong !
Sir, I implore, what would you what would
this audience think of me, if I stood before you
the advocate of a professed scheme of mercy ; and
being questioned, should not dare to tell you that
I was opposed to swindling, theft or perjury ? And
what will you think of a society which does not
allow my respected opponent even to condemn the
forcible separation of man and wife ?
Mr. Gurley here signified his dissent from the
representations of the speaker in some words not
recollected; when Mr. Blanchard turned sudden
ly round and said to Mr. Gurley, who sat near
him on the stage
' Do I understand the gentleman to say in the
presence of this audience, that he does consider it
a crime against God to separate man and wife ?'
Mr. Gurlev answered ' Yes.'
Mr. Blanchard instantly exclaimed
' Most heartily do I thank my opponent for the
declaration. Now be it known to this audience,
and let the note-takers tell it to the South, that my
respected opponent has here charged Judge Bush
rod Washington with committing a "crime against
God," in the sale of fifty-four of his slaves in the
year 1S21, and in separating families in this sale,
four years after he was elected the first president
of the American Colonization Society. And be it
known that the society contrived to elect this (ac
cording to Mr. Gurley) "criminal in the sight of
God" to the presidency each successive year till
1829, when he died ; when my respected oppo
nent, this very gentleman who now calls him a
" criminal in the sight of God," pronounced his
eulogy, saying, among other things, that he had
always " been governed by the noblest feelings ! !"
'If any have any doubt whether the president
of this society did what my opponent here calls a
crime against God, they have only to consult the
Baltimore Chronicle of that day, in which Judge
Washington publicly admits the charge, and justi
fies his act of separating families in the sale of his
slaves.' "
The Anti-Slavery Declaration of Senti
ments. Several editors and writers in the news
papers have taken up an erroneous idea as to the
bearing and import of a vote taken by the Ameri
can Anti-Slavery Society at its last annual meet
ing, respecting the ' Declaration of Sentiments' of
the Convention which formed the Society. A
resolution was introduced at the meeting, ' that we
consider the Declaration of Sentiments made by
the Anti-Slavery Convention at Philadelphia,
Dec. 4, 1833, a declaration of the Principles of
the A. S. Society.' This resolution was opposed,
chiefly on the ground that the ' principles' of the
American A. S. Society are authoritatively set
forth in its constitution, by which every member is
at once bound and protected, so long os he is a
member, and that the Declaration was not adopted
as a part of the constitution, or fundamental law
of the Society, but was precisely what it declares
itself to be, the Declaration of the Sentiments of
the Convention, and as 3uch, was of high impor
tance and authority to show the intentions, views
and expectations of those by whom the Society
was formed. It was therefore urged, that the ad
option of such a resolution was not called for, and
would have the effect to declare the document to
be what it never purported to be ; and could only
be desired from some ulterior end. No one spoke
slightly of the Declaration, or dissented from its
sentiments; but the objection was against declar
ing it to be an authoritative exponent of the' PRIN
CIPLES' of the American Anti-Slavery Society,
and so requiring its reception, as a term of mem
bership in the Society. It is a mistake, therefore,
to represent the Declaration as having been reject
ed, or voted down, or its character in any way
changed, by what was done. It stands where it
did from the beginning. Emancipator.
Jamaica. A friend who has just returned from
a journey, met with a gentleman who owns a
large plantation in the Island of Jamaica, where
he has spent the year past. This gentleman says
the stories which are currently circulated in the
American newspapers about the evils of emanci
pation are entirely unworthy of credence, and the
Jamaica papers from which they delight to quote
are worthless and disreputable. He says the peo
ple are working well, wherever they are treated
well, and that if there is any case where it is oth
erwise, the fault is in the planters. Our inform
ant understood him to say, that he was about to
return to the island, with a determination to extir
pate every remnant of the old system, overseers,
&c, and appoint the most intelligent of the labor
ers as head workmen to conduct the work. He
said the attornies and overseers were seeking to
lessen the value of estates, and that the papers re
ferred to were notoriously in the interest of those
characters. Emancipator.
THE VOICE OF FREEDOM.
MONTPELIER, SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1839.
Character of the Anti-Slavery Enterprise. '
It is a generally admitted fact,- that a great ma
jority of the abolitionists are professors of religion.
Their spirit is indeed the legitimate result of
christian principles. What has produced the pres
ent anti-slavery organization throughout the coun
try, but a spirit of philanthropy and christian sym
pathy, such as was manifested by our blessed Sa
viour when upon earth ? What induced the apos
tles of abolition to step out, unaided and alone, to
oppose the most inveterate popular prejudice, and
combat the mighty torrent of public opinion and
other opposing obstacles but the conviction that
their cause was the cause of humanity and of God,
that truth was mighty and would prevail ? Tru
ly did Mr. Webster remark, with regard to this
subject, " It abolition has arrested the religious
feelings of the country ; it has taken strong hold
on the consciences of men." And how can it be
otherwise ? How can professing christians, who
are imbued with the spirit of their Master who
strive to obey the dictates of their conscience, and
to be governed by the great law of love, turn a
deaf ear to the cries of suffering humanity, and see
their fellow-men robbed, and spoiled, and imbru
ted, without lifting their voice against such enor
mities? Can we look upon the. slaves of the
southern states, and consider their helpless and
degraded condition, shut out, not only from all
the blessings of civilized society, but from a knowl
edge of the way of life and salvation as revealed
in the gospel, without feeling impressed with
the duty of making every possible effort for their
elevation to the enjoyments of civilization and
Christianity ? Can christians accomplish the great
object for which, under God, they are laboring,
the conversion of the world to Christ through ful
filling the commarjd to ' preach the gospel to eve
ry creature, while slavery, with its truth-hating
spirit, continues to exist?
But the question seems to arise why do not
all who profess to be governed by the principles
of the gospel, who profess to ' love their neighbor
as themselves' engage in this great and glorious
work of enlightening and christianizing millions
of heathen in the heart of our own country ?
How can any one, who realizes the worth of the
immortal soul, and the infinite price which was
paid for its redemption, look upon this subject with
indifference ! Can the love of God dwell in that
man's heart, who, though he appears to feel deep
ly for the benighted heathen of distant lands, and
pleads and prays with all the eloquence of a Peter
or a Paul for the poor Hindoo and Hotentot, but
whose eyes flash fire, and who manifests any thing
but the spirit of Christ, the moment the heathen
of our own country the down-trodden slave is
mentioned? What manner of spirit is that which
prompts the professed disciple of Christ to stigma
tize his brother who is endeavoring to obey the
injunction, " Open thy mouth for the dumb
plead the cause of the poor and needy" as an
' emissary of the devil ?' Does it not become such
to examine their hearts, and see whether indeed
they have' that evidence which the apostle says is
the test of acceptance with God: "Hereby shall
ye know that ye have passed from death unto life,
if ye love the brethren"?
A Mistake Rectified.
A writer in the Woodstock Mercury, of May
3d, among sundry other equally wise and correct
things, says
" So far from being self-evident, we believe it is not
true in fact, that all men are created equal. All
these the inequalities of men are the results of the order
ings of Providence, and who shall say that it is not done in
wisdom ? Nor can these different conditions of men be re
duced to a common level, by individuals or associations,
until they can maVe that straight which God has made
crooked, until the Ethcopian can change his skin, and the
leopard his spots."
How grossly mistaken was Thomas Jefferson !
and how the signers of the Declaration of Inde
pendence did lie! What a pity that this learned
philanthropist had not lived in time of the revolu
tion, that he might have disabused the public mind,
and taught the patriots of 76 that according to
the " orderings of Providence" they ought not to
maintain their rights and defend their liberties !
It -is possible that Jefferson, and Washington, and
the whole host of our revolutionary fathers,' and
the citizens of the United States, from their day
down to the present, nave been mistaken per
haps they have : but there is other authority that
is not so easily disposed of. " Of one blood hath
God made all nations to dwell upon the face of the
earth." Now this is one of the " orderings of
Providence:" and he that says to his fellow-rrran,
you are not as good by nature as I am, the blood
in your veins is not so good as that which flows
in mine, does he not contradict the authority of
high heaven ?
We should think the Mercury correspondent
had studied with Chancellor Harper, of South Car
olina. Hear him, and see how beautifully they
agree :
" It is the order of nature and of God, that the being of
superior faculties and knowledge, and therefore of superior
power, should control and dispose of those who are inferi
or; it is as much in the order of nature that men should en
slave each other, as that animals should prey upon each
other."
Our humane and philanthropic friend promises
to communicate further the result of his profound,
researches upon another occasion in which, we
suppose, as a matter of course, he will advocate)
the 1 divine right of kings.'
Fugitive from Republicanism!
The last Herald of Freedom contains a very in
teresting account of A slave's escape from the " pa- t
triarchal institution" to the land of the Lion. The
name of the slave is Robort, he was a native of
Maysville, Kentucky, and owned by one Dudley.
It seems that Robert turned fanatic got the idea
into his head, somehow or other, that he ought to
be free (awful depravity !) that he could take
care of himself that he had, at least, one inalien
able right the pursuit of happiness and accord
ingly availed himself of the first opportunity (be
ing at Utica, N. Y. with his master,) to " cut dirt"
for Canada, and leave his Republican master Jon
athan to black his own boots !
Strange notion, that a man an American Re
ublican must leave his wife, children, friends and
native home the country of the immortal Wash
ington and Jefferson and flee to Canada to enjoy
the blessings of liberty ! And how vastly moro
strange, that a thing a black thing, too should
have such exalted views of Canada, and such an
abominable, unpardonable prejudice against Re
publican America! where all things are "-contented
and happy" and all men are "born free and
equal!" Now, what conclusion shall we draw?
That men and things cannot exist in the same el
ement? Or, that men are knaves and oppress
and tyrannize over these things? What, for in
stance, are the natural attributes of things? Rob
ert (and Henry Clay called him a thing he is,
undoubtedly, a pretty fair sample of that venera
ble statesman's notion of things,) could se, walk:
and talk, and even think and pray. Can a thing
possibly be possessed of such noble qualities and
perceptions? This thing Robert it appears,
had aspirations for freedom longings after liber
ty of thought and limb. He has now got where
he can enjoy all his " inalienable rights" none tp,
molest or gag. In a letter to Mr. Garrison, of tha:
Liberator, he says : " I found friends on my jour-,
ney, who assisted me like good christian folks,,
and have got into a country where I can serve the
Lord with all my heart without fear." There are
a great many such things now-a-days ; and the
" Good Samaritans," too, are numerous, and con
stantly multiplying their numbers, and augmenting
their moral power and consequence.
Fire. We learn that the dwelling-house of Mr.
Hovev, in Berlin, was entirely destroyed by fire
on Sunday, the 5th inst. It was discovered soon
after taking, but as the family were mostly absent
at meeting, and the wind being very high, was
consumed with nearly all of its contents.
OCT" We invite attention to the notice in anoth
er column for a meeting of the ladies of the village
at Esq. Vail's, on Wednesday eve. It strikes us
that an association, such as is there contemplated
would be highly beneficial to the ladies of this
place, and we hope they will promptly respond to
the call.
We have received, too late for insertion
this week, a communication from Rev. Chester
Wright. It will be given in our next.
CT" By all means read the address on our first
page to the " Manufacturers, Mechanics, and La
borers of the U. States." It is an able and valu
able production from the pen of Mr. Pierce, one
of the first mechanics in the Union.
Leonard Gibbs, Esq., the gentleman spoken of
in the following extract, is one of the first lawyers
in Washington County, New York, is District At
torney of the County, and was last year a distin
guished member of the New York Assembly.
In participating in this debate, he is certainly ren
dering as valuable services to his country, as spnie
of his professional brethren in this vicinity, who
volunteer to defend mobocrats and violators of the
license law. Such a man is an honor to the bar,
and does much to redeem it from the disgrace
poured upon it by brawling pettifoggers. We copy
from the Washington (N. Y.) Sentinpl. Mass.
Abolitionist.
Discussion on Slavery. We learn that a pub
lic debate is to take place in Granville, in this Co.,
between the Rev. Mr. Sprague, n Methodist cler
gyman, nnd Leonard Gibbs, Esq., on the subject
of slavery. The discussion is to commence this
day (Wednesday,) at JO o'clock, A. M. at Middle
Granville. We understand that Mr. Sprague takes
the ground that slavery is sanctioned by the Bi
ble ! ! ! Mr. Gibbs denies the position, and takes
the ground of John Wesley the founder of Meth
odism, that Slavery is a sin, the vilest the sun
ever saw.' .We rejoice at this discussion. Truth,
brightens by argument.
L 1