The North Star (Rochester)/1848/01/07/Full text
THE NORTH STAR.
| FREDERICK DOUGLASS, M. R. DELANY, |
Editors. | RIGHT IS OF NO SEX—TRUTH IS OF NO COLOR—GOD IS THE FATHER OF US ALL, AND ALL WE ARE BRETHREN. | WILLIAM C. NELL, Publisher. JOHN DICK, Printer. |
| VOL I. NO. II. | ROCHESTER, N. Y., FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1848. | WHOLE NO. |
The NORTH STAR is published every Friday, at No. 25, Buffalo Street,
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The object of the North Star will be to attack Slavery in all its forms and aspects; advocate Universal Emancipation; exalt the standard of Public Morality; promote the moral and intellectual improvement or the Colored People; and hasten the day of FREEDOM to the Three Millions of our Enslaved Fellow Countrymen.
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THE NORTH STAR.
ROCHESTER, JANUARY 7, 1848.
From the London Mercury.
The meeting being organized, Francis Carnac Brown, Esq., chairman, addressed the assembly as follows:—Ladies and gentlemen, in thanking you for the honor you have just conferred upon me, in electing me to preside over this very large meeting, it is necessary that I should address to you a few words explaining the reason why I have consented to take upon myself this office, seeing that I am altogether a stranger, not only to this present audience, but to this part of London. I will make my observations as brief as I possibly can, in order that I may not be the means of detaining you from hearing a gentleman whom I am perfectly aware you are all most anxious to listen to, and who has come to this meeting for the express purpose of bringing the important subject which we shall have to discuss to-night, under the consideration of this meeting. I will, therefore, merely observe to you, that my connection with your honorable member, Mr. George Thompson, does not date from yesterday (hear, hear.) It is now about eight years since I returned from India, and met that gentleman, who had not long before landed upon the shores of this country, upon his arrival from a visit to the U. States of America, where as you well know, he had devoted a considerable portion of his time and energies to the abolition of slavery in that land. Brought together by a community of sentiment, we met, and from time to time until the present a close and continued intimacy has subsisted between us. We have acted together upon many occasions for the promotion of questions relating to India, and at length a period has arrived when it appears to the best friends of India, that the powerful advocacy of your member may be used with the very best effect, for the purpose of introducing to the public and the Legislature, subjects of the greatest importance to our vast empire in the East, and of so far enlightening public opinion upon this question, that you, and all men, may have an opportunity of seeing and of knowing that, in bringing before your notice the condition of India, we are at the same time calling your attention to a subject of the deepest and most vital interest to yourselves. When Mr. George Thompson shall have concluded his address to-night, I have not the slightest doubt that there will not be one person in this assembly, who will leave the room without being impressed with the conviction of the truth of the statement I have made, namely—that there is no individual present, whose interest, directly or indirectly, in not most essentially concerned in the fate of that country, which is to be the topic of the present lecture. With these prefatory remarks, I now beg leave to introduce to you, your own member, Mr. George Thompson. (Cheers.)
George Thomson Esq., M. P., rose, and was enthusiastically greeted. He said: I have sought this opportunity that I may lay before you my views on a question of paramount importance to the interests of this country and of the empire at large. You have done me the honor to elect me as one of your representatives in the Parliament of England, and I consider, therefore, that it is my duty to put you in possession of my opinions on a subject which will occupy the chief portion of my attention in the Legislature, and which I intend to agitate, as I have time and strength, both indoors and out, until it is appreciated, as I think it ought to be, by the people generally. (Cheers.) I do not doubt, that when I have concluded, you will share my convictions respecting the vital importance of the question I am about to discuss, and that you will not only cheerfully consent to my devoting myself to its advocacy, but be ready also to lend me your best co-operation. (Cheers.) I therefore ask your candid and serious attention. I ask that you will weigh deliberately, the facts, the statistics, and the arguments I shall adduce, and that you will vote for nothing, the propriety and truth of which I do not fully and most satisfactorily establish. (Cheers.)
The topic on which I have to address you this evening is, "Free Trade with India, in relation to the condition and prospects of this country." This text might seem to limit the discussion to matters connected with India and England, and to the results accruing to those countries exclusively from an extension of their commercial intercourse. The subject, however, as I think I shall be able to demonstrate, embraces another result, namely—the achievement of the overthrow of slavery and the slave trade—an effect following upon the attainment of the former object. A few words about slavery will bring me naturally to the subject which has been announced, and enable you to trace out for yourselves the inevitable effect of which I have spoken. In the United States of America, a country boasting its declaration of independence, its doctrines of equality, its free political institutions, its love of universal liberty, its educated and enlightened population, its numerous ecclesiastical bodies untrammelled by state connection, its efforts for the diffusion of the Scriptures, and its many and powerful organizations for promulgating the faith of the gospel throughout the world,—every sixth man, woman and child is a slave. (Shame!) Sixteen millions of free men have banded themselves together to hold in hopeless bondage three millions of their fellow creatures! (Hear!)
A similar number of slaves are found in the empire of Brazil. Spain holds another million in her colonies. France and Holland participate in the crime of their colonies. We turn to Africa. Notwithstanding the abolition of the slave trade with Africa, by England and the United States, simultaneously, in the year 1808, a thousand human beings are, every day, either slaughtered in their own villages, or die on their way from the interior to the coast, or, expiring in the middle passage, are thrown into the deep; or living to reach the port, are sold in the slave market, to be worked to death on the coffee and sugar plantations of Cuba and Brazil. The statistics of this system inform us that from eight to nine millions are in bondage, and that Africa is robbed of a thousand of her children every day! Such are slavery and the slave trade, as carried on by nominally Christian nations, in Europe and America, at the present time. (Cries of shame, and great sensation.) The object of this address is not to characterize slavery, or to dwell upon its peculiar features in the various countries where it exists, but to point out the remedy as a consequence flowing from a certain measure. Let me nevertheless observe, that I do not underrate the value and necessity of the measures hitherto employed in the cause of abolition; still less do I desire to see them discontinued. They are all, save those which imply force, useful, and partially efficacious. But, besides the antidotes, which are of a purely moral and religious character, there is a remedy at hand, at once simple, direct, easy, peaceful, omnipotent, and infallible—a remedy capable of immediate application,—a remedy possessed by England, and by no other—a remedy which, if resorted to, will be found unattended by aught that is exceptionable—a remedy fraught with blessings far beyond even the extinction of slavery and the slave trade.—(Cheers.)
This remedy is no discovery of yesterday. For eight or nine years there have been a few persons in this country who, having taken the trouble to acquaint themselves with the facts relating to the history, condition, and resources of the vast empire which Great Britain has obtained in the East, have been convinced that it was eminently practicable, by one and the same peaceful process, to achieve a greater triumph in the cause of freedom and humanity, and confer more extensive and permanent blessings, of a temporal nature, on the world, than were ever before placed within the limits of human power and human accomplishment. They are still convinced that England possesses within herself, aided by the resources of her matchless Asiatic Empire, the means of utterly abolishing the African slave trade; of giving freedom to every slave in the islands and on the continent of America; of raising from depression and ruin, millions of her conquered Hindoo subjects; and of augmenting indefinitely her home manufacturing, trading, and maritime prosperity. (Cheers.) It has been my privilege to be intimately associated with those who have cherished this conviction—I have long shared that conviction with them—and in my humble efforts to impart it to others, I have been aided by the knowledge, experience, and generous co-operation of those to whom I have referred. The accuracy of the facts long since put forth on this subject has been tested; and so far from those facts having been either shaken or overthrown, they have been confirmed and illustrated by the most striking events; so that what were once the convictions of a few are becoming the convictions of multitudes; indeed, of all intelligent minds with the patience and candor to enter upon an impartial inquiry on the subject. (Loud cheers.)
A single glance at the origin of negro slavery will suggest the remedy which ought to be applied. The slavery and the slave trade of the western world began in a desire to obtain by forced labor the products of the earth. The Spaniards enslaved the Mexicans, that they might work them in mines, and enrich themselves with the precious ores which they extracted. A similar motive led to the enslavement, and brought about the extermination of the Caribs of the West India Islands. The introduction of the sugar cane, and the demand for its produce, led to the trade in slaves with Africa; and the enslavement of seven millions of Africans and their descendants, at the present time, and all the existing horrors and atrocities of the African slave trade, are founded upon the desire to realise the profits which are obtainable by the growth and and sale of five articles—sugar, coffee, cotton, rice and tobacco. Were the demand for these to cease, the nourishment and vitality of these systems would cease, and they would perish from the earth. Abundant means exist for the elucidation of the topic now under discussion, but the materials to which I shall resort will be drawn chiefly from a pamphlet just given to the world, by a gentleman in every way qualified to furnish the necessary information. I shall make free use both of the facts he has collected, and the language he has employed; assured that he will be gratified if, by any means, I can render his production subservient to the end I have in view. The pamphlet to which I refer is entitled, "Free Trade and the Cotton Question with reference to India—By Francis Carnac Brown, Esq., of Tellicherry,"—our present chairman. (Cheers.) Mr. Brown is connected by birth with the soil of India, and is the proprietor of a large estate on the coast of Malabar. I entertain the utmost respect for his judgment, and have the fullest reliance on his veracity. The pamphlet I have named, and from which I am about very largely to quote, does not so much deal in opinions as in evidence—evidence drawn from the highest and most unexceptionable sources. The authorities cited are,—Documents connected with the Records of the East India Company; Minutes and Letters of Members of Council; Reports drawn up by Members of the Indian Government; Reports published by the Directors of the East India Company; and Official Returns of Exports and Imports. This pamphlet is addressed to her Majesty's Minister for Indian Affairs, and is intended for the instruction and guidance of the manufacturers of England, the statesmen and legislators of this great empire, and the true friends of British India and the civilization of the world. It is one of the most important documents ever published, and will, I trust, secure its author the gratitude of the nation. I know the only reward he seeks is the happiness and prosperity of mankind. (Loud cheers.)
Seventy years ago, the colonies of America struck a decisive blow for political freedom and national independence. After a bloody struggle, they achieved their object; they saw the last of the king's troops quit their shores; and, under a general government of their own, and a constitution adopted in a Congress of the States, became the "United States of America." The early settlers in Virginia had introduced negro slaves for the cultivation of their plantations, and before the Declaration of Independence slavery had extended itself over the whole of the colonies. On the separation of the States from the mother country, the Northern and Eastern republics gave liberty to their slaves. The constitution adopted by the States gave no power to the federal government to abolish slavery; and the Southern States still continued to maintain the system. The principal exports of these States were tobacco and rice. So great, however, was the difficulty, as early as 1784, of finding remunerative employment far the small number of slaves that were then there, that the masters, to save themselves from ruin, deliberated upon the propriety of setting all the slaves they possessed at liberty. (Hear! hear!) How stood matters in England at this period? Prior to the existence of the East India Company, the clothing of the people of England had been chiefly woolen, and the manufacturers of the North of England enjoyed the chief part of the trade. Great was the outcry when the cloths, the muslins, the silks, and the nankeens of India and China came into competition with the home manufactures of Lancashire. At length, however, the manufacture of cotton goods sprung up; the East India Company supplied the raw material. Had England existed as a manufacturing nation 2,000 years before, and had the means of reaching India been known, and the riches and capacity of the country understood, raw cotton in any quantity might have been obtained from a soil and a people where cotton had been grown and manufactured for 3,000 years, and whose clothe have been the wonder of the world and the boast of the people by whom they were fabricated. Now behold the revivifying effect of this new branch of English manufacture upon the system of slavery in the United States of America. (Hear.)
The East India Company were masters of the resources of a country which is the natural home of the cotton plant. For reasons which I shall not now particularize, they had not brought to this island a supply sufficient to meet the growing demand. An experiment had been made on the shores of South Carolina to cultivate a few cotton trees from seeds introduced from one of the West India Islands. On the 20th of January, 1785, a single bag of this cotton was landed on the wharf at Liverpool. That was a fatal day for the cause of human liberty. The sample was approved, and orders were given to send all of the same quality that could be raised. Time, however, was wanting; and, therefore, in 1786, the total export of cotton from the United States of America was only 900 pounds. In England, ingenuity, and capital and enterprise were embarked in the manufacture of cotton goods; and in America similar qualities were soon engaged to turn the labor of the slaves to profitable account, and to develop the resources of a territory illimitable in its extent. The race thus commenced has continued down to the present hour. In 1760 Hargreaves invented the spinning-jenny; Arkwright soon after introduced the spinning-frame; Crompton, in 1799, combined the two, and called it the mule. In 1785, the year I am now speaking of, Watt brought the steam engine to that perfect state for acting which made it profitable. Cartwright afterwards invented the power-loom. Sixty years only have elapsed since this career on the part of these two great countries began. At home, contemporaneously with the ever increasing consumption of cotton goods by our own people, the export of cotton goods has advanced, until it has exceeded the mighty value of £25,000,000 sterling per annum; being almost half the amount of the entire exports of the United Kingdom. Not less than £70,000,000 of British capital is invested in the cotton trade of this country; more than two millions of our population depend on this trade for employment; and, consequently, for the means of subsistence. (Hear!) "The truth is," says the able editor of the Economist, "that there is nothing, except food itself, which is of such material consequence to the well being of this country, as an abundant supply of cotton; forming, as it does, the basis of so large a portion of our commerce, and of the employment of our workpeople." (Hear! hear!) "On the supply of raw cotton," says the Times, "does it absolutely depend whether the population of Lancashire shall or shall not be reduced to the state of the population of Cork. The cotton plantations of New Orleans feed the inhabitants of Manchester, as directly as the potato fields of Mayo or Galway feed or starve the peasants of Connaught." Thus, in sixty years, has this single branch of British manufactures become of vital national importance. It is interwoven with all that relates to the employment of our population, of our capital, and of our shipping; and all that relates to our credit, or solvency, and our domestic peace, contentment, and security. Its rapid growth is wonderful; its magnitude is stupendous; and its connection with all that is precious and important in the country is so close and inseparable that the boldest and most far-seeing minds in the community cannot contemplate any serious vicissitude befalling it without the utmost alarm and terror. (Hear! hear!) It was to supply England with the raw material for this branch of her manufactures that the planters of America, in 1786, turned their attention and energies to cotton cultivation. A new era commenced. All thoughts of giving emancipation to the slave ceased; for they became suddenly valuable as human beasts of burden on the plantation, or as stock to raise, by natural increase, the thousands of their kind required to cultivate this new article of produce. (Hear!) There was a rush from the worn-out and profitless soils of the older states to the new and virgin soils beyond. The vast valley of the Mississippi, and the extensive peninsula of Florida, presented a boundless field for enterprise, and the profitable employment of slave labor; and thither those who scrupled not to amass riches by violence and slavery betook themselves. Washington became the emporium of the domestic slave trade, and New Orleans the slave market of the South. The demand for cotton wool in England closed the gates of mercy on the bondmen of America; it quenched the hopes of the friends of humanity; it inflamed the love of Mammon in the breasts of the trans-Atlantic slave-holders, and offered them a tempting premium to pursue their guilty traffic, in the sure hope of a rich reward.
In 1785, America exported from her shores a single bag of cotton wool. In 1843, that same country sent across the sea, from her slave-tilled plantations, during the first nine months of that year, seven hundred end ninety-two millions of pounds weight! In 1785, America held within her borders 600,000 slaves, and these, as we have seen, had become unprofitable, and were, therefore, standing on the threshhold of freedom. In 1840, America contained 2,487,213 slaves, and they were valued by an American statesman, Henry Clay, himself entitled to be regarded as a fit judge in the matter, being born a southern man and a slave-holder and breeder, at 120,000,000 of dollars! In 1785, a single bag of cotton was exported from America. In 1841 the total exports from the shores of that country amounted in value to $106,382,722, of which her exported cotton amounted to $54,390,331, being $77,940 in excess of all her other exports put together. In 1790, the shipping of the United States was set down as 487,377 tons, and in 1844, at 1,280,095 tons!
While driving this profitable trade in the staple articles of our manufactures, the United States have been comparatively inattentive to the growth of other kinds of tropical produce; and have, therefore, greatly enriched their slave-holding neighbors, by becoming customers for the articles raised on their plantations. Her own prosperity, built on the foundation I have pointed out, has enabled her to be a large consumer of foreign produce of slave growth. Hence we find her importing, during 1846, 12,000,000 of pounds weight of slave-grown coffee, and nearly 60,000 tons of slave-grown sugar. Her cotton has largely assisted her to do this; and through our consumption of this slave-grown article of America, we have been feeding to fatness the slaveholders of Cuba and Brazil, and thus supplying to them their only stimulus to the continuance of their slave trade with Africa. "While, therefore," says Mr. Brown, "we have been lavishing millions of money, and sacrificing thousands of valuable lives, since the peace of 1814, to suppress slavery in Africa, our manufactures have, year by year, been supplying a larger and larger sum to the United States, by which the demand for slaves was sure to be kept up and encouraged in Cuba and Brazil. This is the explanation, why one cargo in four, instead of one in three, now repays the Brazilian slavers. (Cheers.)
The cotton manufacture of England, viewed through the medium of the facts now stated, stands out as the prime inciting cause of untold and unutterable misery and crime. The arm that contributes to the wealth, the strength, and the greatness of our native land, deals death and destruction on a continent on one side of the ocean, and sustains and perpetuates colossal systems of slavery on the other. Whilst spending thousands annually to shield the coast of Africa from the visits of the slave trader, we are furnishing millions to the slaveholders of America. While laying units on the altar of freedom we are heaping ingots on the altar of slavery. While assembled together to express our sympathy with the slave, and our abhorrence of the system which has reduced him to what he is—a marketable chattel in the eye of the law—we are at the same time, as a nation, supplying the only effectual proof of the system. We are holding in our own hands the key which has shot the bolt upon him in his prison-house; nay, our persons are arrayed in the very fabrics which have been woven from the fruits of the earth, which he is kept a slave to fill by his unpaid labor, and to moisten with his unpitied tears! (Great cheers.) That such a state of things is inconsistent with the revealed law of God, we know. That it is not required by the law of nature, or the circumstances of man's condition here, we must admit—or, the principle must be conceded, that the law of God is at war with the ordinations of nature, and that the Deity himself is answerable for the origin and continuance of the atrocious systems which the voice of nature condemns as inhuman and unjust. (Loud cheers.) That the doctrines of political economy are inconsistent either with the precepts of revelation, the laws of nature, or the rights and happiness of any portion of the human race, we do not believe. We hold them to be based on equal justice, and their practice the carrying out of the rules which God and nature have manifestly prescribed. (Cheers.) We believe, too, that all the inventions of genius, all the aids of machinery, all the love of adventure and enterprise implanted in the breast of man, are compatible in their fullest exercise and application with the happiness of the human race. Nay, more, that wisely directed and controlled by a sense of justice, and an observance of the rights common to all, they are calculated and designed largely to augment the sum of human felicity, and to advance man in his progress to the highest attainable condition in civilization and power. (Great applause.)
Let me now proceed to show the foundations on which we rest this belief. As if in anticipation of the present circumstances of this country, and the future destinies of the world, God has made provision in nature—in the varying climates of the globe, and the habits and positions of the different races of mankind, for the useful application of all the creations of mechanical skill, for the largest conceivable augmentation of commerce, and for the gratification and reward of all honorable adventure and enterprise. (Cheers.) Slavery is no less at war with the material interests of nations, the principles of free-trade, and the teachings of political economy, than with the rights and happiness of its victims. A return to these immutable laws is the road to the abolition of slavery. England is in a position to set the bright example. There is hope for the slave if England will be wise. England possesses a lever powerful enough to overthrow the bloodstained fabric which has been reared, not less by a violation of the laws of nature and political economy, than by an outrage on the inalienable rights of humanity, and the abrogation of the statutes of the Almighty. That I may at once prove this, I will carry you for a few momenta to the "Gorgeous East," and land you on the shores of British India—a country
"Whose air is balm; whose ocean spreads
O'er coral rocks and amber beds;
Whose mountains, pregnant with the beam
Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem;
Whose rivulets are like rich brides,
Lovely, with gold beneath their tides;
Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice
Might be a Peri's paradise." (Loud cheers.)
Geographically, India is that large, distinct, and peculiar portion of the earth, stretching over twenty-eight degrees of latitude, and twenty-four degrees of longitude, and enclosed on all sides by the sea, by the stupendous range of the Himmaylayas, and by two of the greatest rivers in the world, the Indus and Burrampooter—boundaries which divide it from countries and races altogether separate and different. Politically, India is that country which, throughout the length and breadth of these, its natural limits, is more under paramount British dominion than any English country; for, throughout its extent, the will and the word of its British rulers are, in point of fact, law. Socially, India is a population of two hundred millions of men, the vast majority of whom have for ages been indissolubly knit together by a common religion and common traditions,—by common laws, and common civil and municipal institutions,—by common castes, rites, observances, and manners; and who, although apparently dissociated by the obstacles of languages, locally differing, are, nevertheless, united in hourly and daily intercourse, both among themselves and with their English rulers, by the medium of a common language, adopted with common consent by all, and prevailing from Cape Comorin to the Himmaylayas. No other country in the world, of the same extent, exhibits a natural connection capable of being made so close and intimate throughout all its parts, or so powerful in its aggregation, as this; for its area would readily sustain a population of 300,000,000 of men; and no people of equal number offer a more complete identity of social leanings and material interests, whereon to found, build up, and consolidate this connection.
Such is British India, an empire extending over 1,200,000 square miles! Anxious as I am to state nothing on my own authority, I will not describe the impressions which my own mind received while travelling round its entire coast—while entering its ports—while gazing on its fruit-clad hills—or journeying through its luxuriant plains—or examining its endless diversified productions,—but borrow from the work of Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, the briefest summary I have ever met with of the natural riches this granary of the world. "Whole plains," Mr. Elphinstone says, "are covered with cotton, tobacco, and poppies; roses are grown for attar and rosewater; the sugar-cane, though requiring sedulous care in its culture, and rich and well watered spots for its growth, is abundant. Large tracts are given up to indigo, while many more brilliant dyes are among the produce of the fields; and silk, flax, mustard, sessamun, palma christi, and other plants yielding an ample supply of oil, both for culinary and other purposes; besides wheat, barley, the panicum italicum, and innumerable other descriptions of grain, for which Englishmen have no name; and many kinds of pulse, and roots, and vegetables, and fruits, and spices, combine to make the earth redolent with beauty, and Hindostan foremost among the regions of the globe, as the choice store-house of nature." (Cheers.) Such is the country over which the sway of Great Britain universally extends; whose boundless riches are at our command; where the sceptre of Victoria has swallowed up the sceptres of fifty princes. (Hear! hear! and cheers.) Let me proceed to show you how far this magnificent realm, thus subject, through all the millions of its population, and all its diversified regions of fertility and beauty, to the absolute dominion of this island, is able to supply the articles now procured from those doleful abodes of slavery, where every wind that blows gathers up the sighs of bleeding, broken hearts;—
"Where laughter is not mirth, nor thought the mind,
Nor words a language, nor even men mankind."
Scenes of desolation and slaughter—
"Where the vultures and vampyres of Mammon resort,
Where Columbia exultingly drains
Her life blood from Africa's veins;
Where the image of God is accounted as base
As the image of Cæsar set up in its place."
Those mis-named, free, republican, Christian States,
"Whose fustian flag of freedom waves,
In mockery o'er a land of slaves."
(Tremendous cheering.)
The limits necessarily prescribed to an address like the present, will not permit me to go into details upon more than one branch of the subject; and I shall therefore confine myself on this occasion to the article of cotton wool. Eleven years ago, the directors of the East India Company published a volume of reports on the culture and manufacture of cotton wool, raw silk, and indigo in India. In that volume is a letter addressed by the directors themselves to the Board of Control, in which they state that "The cotton plant is indigenous throughout the peninsula of India, from the extreme south to the foot of the Himmaylaya mountains." This assertion of the directors is abundantly supported by the contents of their bulky volume, which is filled by the reports supplied to them by the different collectors of revenue throughout India. "These documents show conclusively," says Mr. Brown, "that not only is cotton an article of immemorial domestic cultivation in every one of the provinces, but that the progress of the East India Company has been marked by the successive acquisition of every province, and the virtual supremacy obtained over every native state south of the Sutledge, which was peculiarly favored for its growth and production of cotton. Continuing this career of acquisition, the last year, the year 1846, saw annexed to the company's rule the province of the Jullindar Doab—the fertile province north of the river Sutledge, which there produces the finest cotton. The same year saw the real extension of the British frontier carried to Attock and Cashmeer. Every acre of land, therefore, in India, capable of growing cotton, within the vast geographical limits assigned to the plant in 1828 (when the directors wrote their letter to the Indian board,) is, in 1847, subject to British control. These limits embrace a country, for the most part cultivated and civilized, of not less extent than the whole of Europe south of the river Niemen, peopled by at least 150,000,000 of intelligent and industrious men. To doubt the capacity of this country to produce cotton in adequate quantities for the wants of England, is to doubt the territorial capacity of three-fourths of all Europe to produce cabbages for its consumption, if cabbages and not cotton were the produce required for the use of its population and the working of its mills."
So much for the natural capacity of the soil of India. A word now in reference to the ability of the natives to turn these natural advantages to account. Let us now look at the capacity of the natives. (Hear!) "The next doubt," says the same intelligent author, "which has been started, and in England most industriously circulated, until it also has become an article of belief, is the doubt whether the natives of India possess the requisite knowledge and manual skill to grow cotton as well as the slaves of the United States. The proofs to dispel and destroy this doubt can no longer be sought for in the manufactures of India. God has willed that their soil shall endure; but their manufactures, the work of their hands, once unrivaled, are fast passing away. The muslins of Dacca, that beautiful manufacture that was to Bengal what the manufacture of steam engines is to England, absolutely unsurpassed, has, within living memory, become utterly extinct." (Hear!) A remarkable confirmation of the truth of this affecting statement has recently reached this country. In a Bengal newspaper, called the Friend of India, dated August 19th, there is a notice of a work just then published, entitled the "Commercial Annual for the year ending April, 1847," containing a view of the trade of Bengal. This volume informs the world that the past commercial year in that part of India has been rendered memorable, as the year in which the export of Indian piece goods to England has entirely ceased. Not one single yard has been sent to this country for sale. Fifty years ago, as stated by Mr. Brown, the city of Dacca was celebrated for its almost magical fabrics, and thousands of looms were busily employed in the manufacture of cotton cloth for the English markets; and the export of piece goods from the port of Calcutta alone, amounted to more than two millions sterling. Now, that vast and profitable trade has become entirely extinct; not a single yard of cloth is exported to this country—the grass grows in the once stirring and thriving streets of Dacca, and the jungle is fast invading its suburb! In the year 1846–47, instead of exporting, as at the beginning of the century, two millions of pounds worth of native goods, Bengal imported £3,134,986 worth of English yarns, twist, and cloths, manufactured from American cotton-wool. In this single fact, the demonstration is complete and incontrovertible, that England has, within half a century, succeeded in building up the system of negro slavery in America, (which was rapidly decaying) and in annihilating the manufactures of Bengal, once flourishing and profitable.
Alas, for the Hindoo and the African! I am far from bringing any charge against the manufacturers as a class. They are the greatest benefactors of this country, and would gladly have obtained their raw cotton from India. The guilty parties are those whose blind, oppressive, and infatuated policy has prevented the natives of India from sending cotton to England, and thereby becoming customers, not to the extent of three millions, but twenty, if our surplus had reached that amount. (Loud cheers.) Notwithstanding the official announcement of the extinction of Indian manufactures for purposes of export, the proof of the ability of the natives of India to produce the cotton of commerce, as good as when their fabrics clothed the world, has been recently obtained in a manner so complete, satisfactory, and conclusive, as must henceforth banish every doubt on the subject. In consequence of the plan laid by the late bank of the United States, to monopolize the crop of American cotton, in the year 1838–39, the cotton manufacturers of Lancashire, roused by the attempt, sent a deputation of their body to London, to remonstrate with the directors of the East India Company, upon the small supply of indifferent cotton received from India. The directors, solicitous to lull the alarm and calm the expostulations of all the remonstrants, devised a novel expedient, and diverted attention by means of it from India to America. They forthwith dispatched one of their officers, a captain of Native Infantry, to the United States, where he engaged ten cotton planters, and in 1840, proceeded with them to India. There they were distributed in
(Continued on fourth page.)
THE NORTH STAR.
ROCHESTER, JANUARY 8, 1847.
THE NATIONAL BAZAAR.
It was our happiness last week to attend this splendid exhibition of anti-slavery industry, taste, skill, elegance, and beauty, held in Faneuil Hall, Boston. From representations which we had heard, and descriptions which we had read, our expectations were very high; but high as they were, they were more than gratified. On entering the vast and venerable hall, the manner and grandeur of its decoration reminded us strongly of some old, but beautiful Gothic cathedrals through which we have had the pleasure to pass. For the special decoration of the hall it would seem that almost a young forest of evergreens had been stripped of its foliage. Bowers, arches, wreathes, and beautiful chains of it, were displayed in all directions; the long range of pillars supporting the capacious galleries on either side, and the upper range around the gallery, reaching the ceiling, were all elegantly trimmed with evergreen; and between the pillars in the gallery, rising from the breastwork around it, were finely modelled forms of arches and windows of the old Gothic order, all of which were beautifully dressed in living green. Across the hall, in various directions from side to side, were chains of evergreen, meeting and crossing immediately under a large and luminous gas light chandelier, which, when lighted, grandly reflected the charm which nature always lends to works of art. In the centre of the hall was a large table forming a circle, piled with rich and beautiful articles, too numerous to mention. This, too, was all surrounded and decorated with evergreen, in every graceful shape and form which genius, skill, and fancy, could invent. On either side, and all around this table, were tables connected from one end of the hall to the other, and only divided from each other by multitudinous forms of living green rising between them. Some of the more youthful of the ladies wore wreathes of evergreen about their heads, as if determined to be in unity with the natural and artificial beauty surrounding them.
It would be pleasant to be in such a place at any time, but to be there in the glorious cause of righteous liberty, surrounded by the old and tried friends of the cause; meeting and conversing with many of them for the first time since our return from England; witnessing the ardor of their zeal, and gathering light and life from their lofty communications, made it a delightful occasion to us, and one which we could wish every friend of the slave could share. England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, were all represented. The various useful, rich, elegant and beautiful works from those countries deepened, in our mind, the earnest sincerity and devotion to our cause, which often filled our heart with grateful admiration during our sojourn in those lands. Noble was the devotion and great the industry that sent those beautiful works to our shores, and laid them on the pure altar of Christian Philanthropy. Every article was a silent but powerful pleader in behalf of the American slave, and a telling rebuke of the guilty slavelholder of the South, and his much more guilty allies of the North. The women of monarchical England pleading with their sisters in republican America, to quit the infernal practice of trading in the bodies and souls of men, and making merchandize of the bodies of their sable sisters; and this, too, in old Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Liberty," the birth-place of American independence—where was nursed the young spirit of the revolution, and where now hang the pictures of Washington, Adams, Hancock, Warren, and others, who seventy years ago fought a British king in defence of American liberty! Scotland, too, joins the appeal with the names of her forty thousand daughters. What a rebuke is here!
In looking upon the labors of the dear friends at home as well as abroad, we felt abashed by their superior devotion. We never feel more ashamed of our humble efforts in the cause of emancipation, than when we contrast them with the silent, unobserved, and unapplauded efforts of those through whose constant and persevering endeavors this annual exhibition is given to the American public. Anti-slavery authors and orators may be said to receive compensation for what they do, in the applause which must, sooner or later redound to them; but not so with the thousands whose works of use and beauty adorn this fair. It is for them to work, unnoticed and unknown, and sometimes unenquired for; and many of them unable to see the good that results from their efforts. Evidently no sinister native can enter into such action; and yet—noble souls they!—they have a great and glorious reward. The consciousness of having done something toward releasing from cruel bondage, even one sister, and the gratitude of that sister going up in glory to God for deliverance from thraldom, is a happiness to the pure mind, which as far transcends that derived from the praise of men, as heaven transcends earth, and eternity, time. Let proud pro-slavery congregations get up fairs to build and beautity their churches; let them labor to cushion their pews, carpet their floors, and ornament their pulpits; they may indeed reap the reward that results from the exercise of skill and industry, but the thought must come, after all, We have worshipped ourselves, rather than God; we have been looking to our own ease and comfort, rather than relieving those who are unable to help themselves. Such persons know nothing of the holy satisfaction consequent upon unselfish labor and effort in behalf of the hated and enslaved of our land. This is emphatically the great religious movement or the day—one in which the laborer is taught to look only to the source of all good for reward. The history of the Boston Fair is interesting, instructive and encouraging. It shows what may be accomplished by unwavering fidelity, unfaltering industry, and patient devotion to a good cause, The first of which (this is the fourteenth fair,) was held, we believe, in a small room, No. 46, Washington street. At that time few ventured to attend it, and fewer to assist it. A few ladies only were found willing to encounter the odium of attending such a place. Fourteen years have passed away, and our fair, after working its way through the lower rooms of Marlborough Chapel, and the more commodious Amory Hall, finds place in the "old cradle of liberty," and large as is the cradle, this fourteen year's growth is becoming too large for it. The fact is, our fair becoming one of the most popular and genteel exhibitions of the year. We are glad of its prosperity, not because we love popularity, but because of the change in public opinion which it indicates. We know that imputations have been cast upon those who act most prominently in conducting this fair. It is said they seek popularity, and play into the hands of the Beacon street aristocracy. The insinuation is base. Where has aristocracy, cotton-ocracy or slave-ocracy received more faithful rebukes within the last few weeks than in the Liberator of Boston?
What amount of money was realised by the fair, we do not know: probably not so much this year as last. Our money, like our country's honor, is being squandered on our hired assassins in Mexico, and the one is becoming about as scarce as the other. The scarcity of money will account for a decrease (if there be any) of the proceeds of the fair this year. But, be the sum little or much, it is in good hands, and will be faithfully appropriated to the dissemination of light on the subject of slavery; and we are sure it will do much toward disposing the public mind favorably to the cause.
The Bazaar itself was a sort of anti-slavery meeting. Several evenings were devoted to addresses from well known anti-slavery speakers, all of whom were listened to with surprising attention, considering the many attractions in other directions. It was our lot to make the last anti-slavery speech in Fanueil Hall on the last night of the old year.
COLORED NEWSPAPERS.
They are sometimes objected to, on the ground that they serve to keep up an odious and wicked distinction between white and colored persons, and are a barrier to that very equality which we are wont to advocate. We have, sometimes, heard persons regret the very mention of color, on this account, and to counsel its abandonment. We confess to no such feelings; we are in no wise sensitive on this point. Facts are facts; white is not black, and black is not white. There is neither good sense, nor common honesty, in trying to forget this distinction. So far from the truth is the notion that colored newspapers are serving to keep up that cruel distinction, the want of them is the main cause of its continuance. The distinction which degrades us, is not that which exists between a white man and a black man. They are equal men: the one is white, and the other is black; but both are men, and equal men. The white man is only superior to the black man, when he outstrips him in the race of improvement; and the black man is only inferior, when he proves himself incapable of doing just what is done by his white brother. In order to remove this odious distinction, we must do just what white men do. It must be no longer white lawyer, and black woodsawyer,—white editor, and black street cleaner: it must be no longer white, intelligent, and black, ignorant; but we must take our stand side by side with our white fellow countrymen, in all the trades, arts, profession and callings of the day.
It is one of the most cheering signs of the times, that colored persons are becoming farmers, mechanics, lecturers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, teachers, professors and editors. The more we have of them, the better; and the sooner will the distinction of which we complain be removed. Man's greatness consists in his ability to do, and the proper application of his powers to things needful to be done, and not in the color of his skin.
OUR MOVEMENTS.
Since the appearance of the first number of the North Star, we have been actively engaged in addressing public meetings in various towns in this and the State of Massachusetts, and doing our best to extend the subscription list of our paper. On the 4th December, in company with our friend Remond and Delany we held a meeting in Mendon; the weather was cold and otherwise inclement, and our meeting was held in the school house.—Friends meeting house having been closed against us on the ground that our views differed from theirs. We asked one of them if he thought the Methodists acted generously and honorably in sometimes opening their doors and allowing ministers of the society of Friends free access to their pulpits to set forth their views! He was slow to answer, clearly seeing the dilemma into which it would place those who had been instrumental in closing the doors against us. We held two meetings the next day in the same place; C. L. Remond and M. R. Delany both spoke, and with excellent effect. We have also held meetings in LeRoy, Darien, Pine Hill and Rochester, and have spoken at Boston, Lynn and Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Our friend and co-laborer, M. R. Delany, is now on a visit to his family in Pittsburgh, Pa., and will probably remain absent from Rochester during the present winter, as he intends to travel and hold meetings in Cincinnati, and many towns in the State of Ohio before his return. We hope to be able, to keep our readers constantly advised of his persevering efforts.
☞ The "Homestead Journal" published at Salem, Ohio, devotes more than a column to a notice of the North Star, and handies us roughly and as carelessly as he would do an unsound potato; toward us his eye is evil, and his whole body is full of darkness; however sacred in his eyes may be the land, he shows himself thoroughly divested of any high regard for man. For any man to talk about white slavery in this country in connection with black slavery, is to use words deceitfully. We shall try to examine the land reform movement, and shall venture to speak on that subject as well as others, as soon as our opinion shall have reached an intelligent maturity.
☞ George Thompson's Speech.—We make no apology for occupying our entire outside with this speech. To have omitted to print it would have been a wrong to the noble heart that conceived, and the eloquent lips that gave it utterance, as well as the great cause it is so well calculated to subserve. We rejoice with the three millions in bonds, that the "bow" of our eloquent friend yet abides in strength; and that, with the speech before us, he has sent another arrow into the monster, Slavery, which must do much toward shortening his existence.
☞ We intend publishing hereafter, a weekly Price Current.
THE ANTI-SLAVERY BAZAAR AT MINERVA HALL.
Notwithstanding the "white mantle" with which dame nature greeted the anti-slavery women of Western New York on the morning of the l7th ult., they were at their post in Minerva Hall, ready and willing to aid, by their every effort, the cause of bleeding humanity.
Too much credit cannot be awarded to this noble band of women, who have, during the past months, been engaged "in and out of season," plying the needle and taxing their ingenuity in fabricating saleable articles for the Fair. Their nimble foot have perambulated the highways and by-ways of our good city, in quest of contributions of money and commodities, as the convenience or benevolence of friends could bestow. In some cases their hearts have been made glad by a generous response, (smallest favors being gratefully received,) and in others, alas! cold looks, unyielding purse strings, and repelling voice and actions, have chilled, but, thank God, could not dishearten them; for, with that perseverance so characteristic of woman when engaged on a mission of love, one defeat only served to inspire them with courage for fresh victories.
The distinguished American historian, Bancroft, at a Pilgrim celebration on Plymouth Rock, in a most eloquent tribute, eulogized the women passengers in the May Flower, and though he would not disparage the "courage of Standish, the wisdom of Carver, the enduring prudence of Bradford, yet the highest meed of glory belonged to woman, who, in addition to these noble traits of character, displayed a nobler heroism, and achieved a higher triumph, in conquering, not man only, but winter and the wilderness." So, too, with the anti-slavery women of the present day. Their efforts and sacrifices are far from being appreciated as their merits deserve.
The men have their share of labor and toil, and most willingly do they dedicate themselves to the work; yet the cause does not owe to a single influence more than to the self-denying, self devoted exertions of woman.
This is, indeed, an appropriate sphere for woman; for their sisters at the South are the greatest sufferers by the infernal system of slavery. The very fact that they arc under the absolute control of licentious and profligate owners, furnishes a key by when to unlock those recesses of darkness and vice, to which the Spanish inquisition bore no parallel.
Then let woman be free to carry forward the great work of regenerating public sentiment, by her sewing circles and fairs,—her presence, influence and voice at meetings. Impose upon her no restrictions—clip not the wings of her lofty aspirations for liberty. But let her do for her country and the world what seemeth to her good, and the thanks of millions will yet be to all a reward for well doing.
When the Pretender, Charles Stuart, was flying from his pursuers in the wilds of Scotland, his firmest friends and most devoted adherents were women. To their care and hazardous exertion he often owed his life. The American slave now claims the sympathy of American women. Why should not the anti-slavery women of this republic stand side by side with the daughters of Scottish nobles?
The last day and evening, the 18th, was an auspicious one. The spacious hall was well filled—the ladies all vieing with each other in "ways and means" to induce visitors to "come, buy—come, buy." Two bands, at intervals, discoursed "Liberty Notes." William C. Bloss, Esq., and Frederick Douglass occupied the rostrum to the hearty acceptance of all; and every countenance seemed to indicate a new pledge for future exertions to break the yoke, and redeem America from the shame and sin of slavery. May each heart feel renewed by the scenes and associations at Minerva Hall. In the language of Frederika Bremer—"Who that has striven ardently and labored honestly, has lived in vain, if it be only for a brief morning hour? They may work out no whole, but the spark which proceeds warms and enlightens the night of many a mortal. The work is prepared for others, and this also is good and gratifying. Our little life—how short it is! Let us be useful to each other, and it will be immortal even upon earth."—W. C. N.
GREAT ANTI-SLAVERY MEETING.
Pursuant to a call extensively circulated through the city, a large audience convened in Minerva Hall on Sunday morning, Dec. 19th, for the purpose of considering the sin of American Slavery, and our duties, as Christians, towards its utter annihilation.
Joseph C. Hathaway was called to the chair; and Giles D. Stebbins and William C. Nell appointed Secretaries.
Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Howard.
Frederick Douglass offered the following resolutions:—
Resolved, That in assembling on this day for the purpose of lifting up our voices in behalf of our oppressed and plundered fellow-countrymen, we but follow in the footsteps of Him who has said, "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day."
Resolved, That in the simple act of slaveholding are comprehended the crimes of theft, robbery, and murder; the subversion of all human rights; the destruction of all that dignifies and ennobles man; and is direct war upon the government of God.
During the discussion which continued during the day and evening, Frederick Douglass alluded to the powerful influence which the American church exerted against the liberation of the slave; and detailed many facts in the history of the various ecclesiastical bodies, proving conclusively their manifold wickedness and persevering inconsistency with the teaching of Him whom they claim as Master. And in reference to the day, he remarked, that preaching for the slave was a paramount duty, inasmuch as "a man is of more value than a sheep."
Giles B. Stebbins censured the clergy for their coldness and indifference to the vital question of American slavery,—"They are by far the most guilty party; for by their position they wield a great influence with the masses; but that influence, I rejoice to believe, is fast passing from their hands. The people have begun to perceive the fallacy of their teachings, with liberty for a text, and oppression for its commentary."
C. L. Remond briefly commented upon the resolutions; remarking that when the ear of the American people can be gained, the downfall of slavery in this republic is certain.
J. C. Hathaway presented a graphic picture of the injuries heaped upon the free colored people of this land, and the slaves in the southern plantations. Many an eye filled with the sensitive tear, as the speaker portrayed the angiush of mothers and daughters, victims of a relentless tyrant a power; and as he invoked the co-operation of all present to aid in undoing the heavy burden, that the oppressed might go free, the immense audience seemed, by their expression of countenance, "the mirror of the mind," to give in their hearty assent to his appeal.
After remarks in further support of the resolutions, by M. D. Codding, L. Burtis, and others, they were unanimously adopted.
The meeting united in singing an Anti-Slavery hymn, and with apparent reluctance adjourned.
Fourth Annual Meeting of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society.
Pursuant to notice, the Society convened at Minerva Hall, in Rochester, on Monday, December 12th, Joseph C. Hathaway in the Chair—Wm. C. Nell appointed Secretary pro tem.
On motion, committees were chosen as follows, viz:
ON BUSINESS.
Frederick Douglass, Sarah D. Fish, Nelson Bostwick, Mary Hallowell, R. G. Murray, Phebe Hathaway, Charles L. Remond.
ON FINANCE.
Wm. R. Hallowell, Lewis Burtis, Henry Bush, Giles B. Stebbins.
ON NOMINATION.
Benjamin Fish, Sarah Burtis, Eliza Parker, G. B. Stebbins, Isaac Post—who reported the following list of officers, which was unanimously adopted:
PRESIDENT.
Joseph C. Hathaway, Farmington.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Henry Bush, Rochester.
Wm. G. Parker, West Walworth.
A. L. Peet, Victor.
Elias L. Platt, Bath.
Thos. McClintock, Waterloo.
Nathan Marvel, Port Byron.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
Giles B. Stebbins, Rochester.
RECORDING SECRETARY.
William C. Nell, Rochester.
TREASURER.
Henry Bush, Rochester.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
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Wm, R. Hallowell, |
Daniel Anthony, |
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The following resolutions were then submitted by the Business Committee:
Resolved, That as the members of this society, we return our sincere gratitude to the God of the oppressed for the cheering success with which He has crowned our humble efforts during the year now coming to a close; and that we pledge ourselves to a more faithful and persevering application of our energies to the slave the ensuing year.
Resolved, That the zeal, perseverance and fidelity with which the agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society have prosecuted their labors in this State, during the last year and a half, have been well calculated to secure the confidence and approbation of every friend of the slave, and to impress upon the public mind the fact, that that society is the legitimate and true representative, in its principles and measures, of genuine and uncompromising Anti-Slavery.
Resolved, That the National Anti-Slavery Standard, the organ of the American Anti-Slavery Society, by its open and uncompromising course, the smallness of its price, as well as its high literary character, commends itself to the favorable consideration of all persons; and each individual is earnestly desired to use his exertions to extend its circulation in their respective neighborhoods.
Resolved, That we most cordially welcome our distinguished friends and well tried fellow laborers, Frederick Douglass, M. R. Delany and Wm. C. Nell, editors and publisher of the "North Star," and pledge them our co-operation, aid and support during the war.
Resolved, That we hail with joy the appearance ol the "NORTH STAR", trusting that in its light many a bondman shall find his liberty; and that its rays will even pierce the prison-house, exposing to the gaze of the world, the dark and damning deeds which are there committed, until not a slave shall be found upon American soil.
Resolved, That we learn with the highest gratification, that the American Slave System is on the eve of receiving a most powerful, if not fatal blow, from the cultivation of free grown cotton on the fertile soil of British India, and that we extend our most cordial acknowledgements to George Thompson, for his recent eloquent and able effort before his constituency, to awaken an interest throughout England and the world, in this noble and praiseworthy enterprise; and that we pledge to him our warmest sympathy in the great work he has so boldly and successfully commenced.
Resolved, That the recent demonstration of American sympathy in the city of New York, with Pope Pius IX, in his noble efforts to extend constitutional liberty to the people of Italy, while we are carrying on an extensive system of butchery in Mexico for her subversion, is the enactment of another disgusting manœuvre for the purpose of turning off attention from the slaughter of Mexican Catholics, by a show of sympathy with the Catholics of Italy: and that America will never be in a reasonable position to sympathise with the oppressed, or to denounce and rebuke oppression of foreign lands, while under the star-spangled banner three millions of her people pine in hopeless bondage, and our national capital is a revolting slave market.
Resolved, That we sincerely mourn the death of Rev. Charles Van Loon, whose rare talents, unbending integrity and generous affections were cheerfully dedicated to the cause of the poor and oppressed, and gave promise of usefulness to man and glory to God. His memory is deeply enshrined in the hearts of many who survive him, inciting them to virtuous deeds, and the blessings of those that were ready to perish have gone with him to that other land.
Resolved, That in the death of James C. Fuller the slave has lost a friend whose voice, whose pen, whose time and whose money were freely and liberally given to his redemption and we are admonished to do quickly what we have to do; for to-morrow we die.
Resolved, That the late message of the President of the United States ts a tissue of falsehoods,—the assertion that our country was invaded by the army of Mexico, a wanton and deliberate lie, and is known to be such by every intelligent citizen; indeed, it is known that the object for which the war was declared is, the extension of slavery; and that portion relating to the Amistad captives is but another of the many commands of the South to bow down to the image.
Resolved, That we are convinced by every developement and demonstration of slavery daily coming under our observation, that the only way by which we can faithfully and fully maintain our fidelity to the slave and the God of the slave, is to re-affirm and carry out the doctrine of No union with Slaveholders, and seek, by all rightful means, to bring about, as soon as possible, the rejection of the Constitution of the United States, on account of its slaveholding character,—the dissolution of the American Union,—the separation of the non-slaveholding from the slaveholding States, and the establishment of a Republic in which there shall be neither a tyrant nor a slave.
The above resolutions were ably discussed by various speakers.
Charles Lennox Remond eloquently depicted the slavery which, even in the free North, hunts the man whose only sin is the "texture of hair and hue of his skin;" which denies him, in many instances, the common civilities of life; deprives him, in the Empire State, from the elective franchise, unless worth two hundred and fifty dollars in real estate; consigns his child to a prescribed school; subjecting him to all the disadvantages consequent upon an isolated position in society. He also commented with much force upon the late recommendation of Governor Smith, of Virginia, to expel the free colored inhabitants from the State; together with the infamous clause in the President's recent message relative to an appropriation to the Spanish government for the Amistad captives.
Frederick Douglass, in advocacy of the resolutions, alluded to the first principles of anti-slavery; the opposition they had encountered to the present moment; the influence that American religion had volunteered in aid of the inhuman man-stealer; for, said he, while America is printing tracts and Bibles, sending missionaries abroad to convert the heathen, expending her money in various ways for the promotion of the Gospel in foreign lands, the slave not only lies forgotten—uncared for, but is trampled under foot by the very churches of the land. What have we in America? Why, we have slavery made part of the religion of the land. Yes, the pulpit there stands up as the great defender of this cursed institution, as it is called. Ministers of religion come forward and torture the hallowed pages of inspired wisdom to sanction the bloody deed. They stand forth as the foremost, the strongest defenders of this "institution." As a proof of this, I need not do morethan state the general fact, that slavery has existed under the droppings of the sanctuary of the south, for the last two hundred years, and there has not been any war between the religion and the slavery of the south. Whips, chains, gags, and thumbscrews have all lain under the droppings of the sanctuary, and instead of rusting from off the limbs of the bondman, those droppings have served to preserve them in all their strength. Instead of preaching the Gospel against this tyranny and rebuking this wrong, ministers of religion have sought, by all and every means, to throw in the background whatever in the Bible could be construed into opposition to slavery, and to bring forward that which they could torture into its support. This I conceive to be the darkest feature of slavery, and the most difficult to attack, because it is identified with religion, and exposes those who denounce it to the charge of infidelity. And Northern churches, ministers and professors were in good fellowship with—nay, more, in many instances defenders of—the great abomination. A glance was directed to the late demonstration of American sympathy with Pope Pius IX, in his efforts for Catholic emancipation, showing it to be inconsistent, while we are yet a nation of slaveholders, to express sincere sympathy for the oppressed of other lands. Well might the rebuke be given—
"Go loose your fettered slaves at home,
Then turn and ask the like of us."
A well merited and glowing tribute was rendered George Thompson, the new member of Parliament for the Tower Hamlets, for his unceasing efforts to promote the East India cotton reform, and, through that, the abolition of American Slavery.
The Mexican war; the pro-slavery position of political parties; our responsibilities in the slavery question now being agitated and affecting all phases of society, North and South—these and other kindred topics served as fruitful themes for the several speakers, keeping the audience in close attention, save when they felt free to manifest their loud and earnest approval of the eloquent outbursts and indignant utterings, the usual characteristics of an anti-slavery meeting.
The resolutions were adopted at a late hour. Three cheers for liberty were proposed and heartily given, when the large concourse separated. We trust each member resolved to do what in him lay for the downfall of tyranny in this otherwise happy republic.
J. C. HATHAWAY, Pres't.
Wm. C. Nell, Sec'y.
CORRESPONDENCE.
We give our readers the following letters, at the hazard of incurring the charge of egotism. We think it due to them, to make them acquainted with the feelings of our friends, as well as our foes concerning our enterprise. We will, however, promise that far less will be said about ourself in future numbers, than appears m this week's paper. Some notices of us, copied from other papers, would have been excluded had we been at our post when they were selected. We beg of friends who favor us with communications, to write as much about the cause as possible, and dispense with as much about "the North Star" as they can conveniently.
We gratefully acknowledge the following letter from Gerrit Smith, Esq., including us among the recipients of his generous donation of land in this state. The favor is one we did not expect, and is the more highly valued on this account. We have long desired, but have never yet had the pleasure of an acquaintance with this distinguished friend of the slave, and of mankind at large. A difference of views on matters connected with the anti-slavery movement, has served to keep us personally unacquainted. This, we trust, will not always be the case. If our hearts are one, why should a difference of mind divide us? We differ widely from Mr. Smith in regard to the character of the constitution of the United States and the Union; and we are more and more confirmed in the soundness of our views, and the unsoundness of his; and yet there never was a moment since we first read his letter to Henry Clay, to the delivery of his great speech last fall, before the National Liberty Convention, that we did not regard him with grateful admiration.
Peterboro', Dec. 8,1847.
Frederick Douglass—My Dear Sir:—I welcome you to the State of New York. In this, your new home, may you and yours, and your labors of love for your oppressed race, be all greatly blessed of God.
Above is my draft for five dollars, to pay for two years' subscription to your forthcoming paper.
Conformably to my purpose of giving to 3000 colored inhabitants of this State the principal share of my lands, which are fit for farming, I made out 2000 deeds last year: I am now busy, with my clerks, in making out the remaining 1000. Inasmuch as you and Mr. Nell have become inhabitants of this State, I fed at liberty to convey a parcel of land to each of you. Herewith are the deeds. I wish that the land was in a less rigorous clime; but it is smooth and arable, and not wanting in fertility. Forty acres—that is, a quarter of the same lot of which I have conveyed a quarter each to yourself and Mr. Nell,—I have given to Mr. C. L. Remond. The remaining quarter will probably be conveyed to Mr. W. W. Brown, who has also become an inhabitant of this State. One of the contiguous lots I have divided amongst four fugitive slaves, viz: Henry Bibb, and the three brothers, Lewis, Milton, and Cyrus Clark.
With great regard,
Your friend and brother,
GERRIT SMITH.
Syracuse, Dec. 9, 1847.
Dear Douglass:—I hasten to congratulate you on the rising of the "North Star" in the horizon of Rochester. I have read it all with entire satisfaction—much of it with delight. It is a number one, in the best, as well as in the first sense. I hope you will write another letter to Henry Clay, and expose his folly on the subject of colonization. He ought to be put to shame for clinging to that humbug. It is a delusion, however, not yet dispelled from the minds of thousands; and Mr. Clay's commendation of it furnishes you with a fair occasion to kill that dead body once more.
Yours, truly,
SAMUEL J. MAY.
Hartford, Ct., Dec. 27, 1847.
W. C. Nell—Dear Sir:—"The North Star," Vol. 1, No. 1, is before me. I like the paper very much; and desiring, as they would say in Maryland, to start with you "from the jump," I enclose you the amount of my subscription for a year. I bid you God speed; and sincerely hope that great success may attend your noble enterprise. My own judgment is not worth much in regard to the style of a paper: I have some little taste, however, in regard to the appearance of those I have about me for my own use. My taste is well suited in the style and size of the "Star." The name, I think, is a happy one, indeed. There cannot, to my mind, be a more appropriate name. Let it be, then, what the Polar Star is in the heavens—brilliant, dignified, standing in bold relief, and, above all, so constant to its position, that the bewildered mariner is sure of his reckoning if he can but fix his eye upon it. So it is also to the flying bondman; and so may the "North Star" ever be.
With high esteem, yours,
J. W. C. PENNINGTON.
Seekonk, Mass., 12th Mo. 17th. 1847.
Friend Douglass:—Having read the "Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass," I had imagined that a paper edited by the author of that work would be both interesting and valuable; and I am happy to slate, that, in the number before me, I find my most sanguine expectations fully realized. If it had fallen to my lot to have suggested a name for the paper, it would have been most agreeable with my first impulse to have called it, "The Polar Star;" but, upon reflection, I am satisfied that "The North Star" is better, as that is the appellation more commonly given to the beautiful planet from which the paper so appropriately takes it name. I hope, therefore, that it will ever remain as it is, without the slightest alteration. That Star in the heavens, fixed, as it is, to one point, has been a safe guide to many a weary wanderer, on his lonely way from that happy land which is blessed with the religious "spirit of slaveholding, robbery, and wrong," to the more frigid, more monarchical, and, withal, more humane dominions of Queen Victoria. It not only remains stationary in its position, but it is firm and determined in its purpose. It has never been known to betray its trust. The flying, panting fugitive finds in it a friend, which neither the fear of a tyrant's frown nor the love of a tyrant's smile can possibly transform into a traitor. I anxiously hope, and do firmly believe, that this paper will remain as fearlessly fixed to one point, and as really determined in its purpose, as the lovely little planet from which it has its name. Its only point to shine from will be the naked truth—its purpose, "to attack slavery in all its" horrible "forms and aspects," until complete "emancipation" shall be proclaimed to every slave, of whatever color or sex, throughout the length and breadth of this "happy land," which is so strikingly remarkable for its "civil and religious liberty." The government of the United States appears to be fully determined that the whole of her people shall enjoy the rich blessings of her institutions, especially the three millions of colored people at the South; nor is this all: she is so anxious that neighboring nations should share bet advantages with her, that she is at this moment spending an enormous amount of treasure and blood for the purpose of establishing in Mexico that singular kind of freedom which is the lot of her colored people at home. I have only to say, in conclusion, that if the blessings of liberty and independence cannot be enjoyed in the United States, after her present civil and religious institutions cease to exist, I, for one, do not wish to enjoy such blessings. I have not the use of language to express my utter abhorrence of the hypocritical pretences to Christianity and patriotism under which this country groans. Many of those who are actively engaged in the support of the present institutions of America are very loud in such pretences.
With the hope that thou mayest be favored with entire success in thy truly laudable undertaking,
I am thy friend and welt-wisher,
ISAAC. C. KENYON.
Buffalo, December 17, 1847.
Mr. Frederics Douglass-Dear Sir:—I am much pleased with the first number of your paper, and am convinced thu the principles there set forth, strictly adhered to, will effect more to accomplish the end designed than any similar organ ever commerced in this country.*****
Time forbids, in this hasty scrawl, to say more, but I intend that you shall hear from me frequently.
Yours, &c.,
ABNER H. FRANCIS.
Henrietta, Dec. 11, 1847.
Frederick Douglass—Dear Sir:—I received the first number of the "North Star," through the post-office, this week, the meaning of which, I suppose, is, "Take it, and hand in your two dollars." But I was taking so many papers, and my means so limited, that I said to myself, Can't do any such thing—I have enough now—twice as many papers as I can read, and my means won't allow me to take any more: but I will just look into it, and see what it is going to be. So I read the salutatory—the address to "our oppressed countrymen," and the letter to Henry Clay. Enough, said I; I have read more than two dollar's worth already. I can't refuse. So I have added the "North Star" to my large list of freedom's advocates.
Respectfully yours,
JAMES SPERRY.
We extract tho following encouraging word from the correspondence of a devoted laborer in Ohio. Would that all the women of our land felt the same:
"God speed thee and thy associates in their great and good work. I will take the paper as long as I can command a dollar, even if it be only one.** I rejoice that the men whose brethren cannot speak for themselves, can and will speak in their behalf.
Yours, for our oppressed
Fellow countrymen,
ABBY L. BRIGDEN."
☞ Charles Lenox Remond and Frederick Douglass, will hold a meeting in Victor, on Monday evening, 10th Jan. We hope the friends of the slave in that place, will make the necessary arrangements for the meeting.
☞ J. C. Hathaway, is now making a tour in Massachusetts, and will receive subscribers for the North Star. He will visit Boston, New Bedford, Providence and Fall-River, and return in time to attend the fair at West Winfield.
☞ Henry Watson is now travelling in the State of Rhode Island, and is authorised to receive subscribers and subscriptions for the North Star. Mr. Watson has experienced the wrongs of slavery in his own person, and is now, by the circulation of books and papers on the subject, and telling the story of his wrongs, doing what he can toward the downfall of the slave system. We bid him God-speed in his endeavors.
☞ Frederick Douglass will deliver an Anti-Slavery Lecture, next Sunday afternoon, at two o'clock, in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Main Street.
☞ The Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society will hold its Annual Meeting on Thursday, 13th January, at two o'clock afternoon, at the house of Mr. J. Kedzio, No. 35, North Fitzhugh Street. Members and friends of this Society are earnestly requested to attend.
☞ To Our Subscribers in Rochester. We hope they will immediately leave at the office, their address, street and number, that the North Star may be promptly delivered.
☞ We have already been imposed upon by persons sending letters of no interest whatever, to the paper, for which we have paid the postage. All should bear in mind, that letters or communications, to ensure attention, must be Post Paid.
NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A Letter to the Citizens or the United States. By the Rev. Theodore Parker.
This is another stunning bolt from the heaven of thought, upon the head of American Slavery. In the pamphlet before us, we have one of the most concise, powerful, and thorough examinations of Slavery, with which we have met during the course of our anti-slavery reading. Mr. Parker has examined the subject in its various bearings, and has shown himself as much at home in its political and economical, as in its religious and moral aspects. The letter should find a place in every family, and be read and pondered by every person in the land. We regret that our limits forbid a more lengthy notice of this pamphlet. We may give our readers a few extracts from it next week. Meanwhile, we hope to receive copies of the work with which to supply such persons as may wish to read it.
Narrative or the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; written by himself.
The Eleventh Thousand of this work is just published, and may be had at this office, price 35 cents. It passed through nine editions in England, and has been translated into French and German.
A Lecture delivered before the Female Anti-slavery Society of Salem, at Lyceum Hall, Nov. 14, 1847. By William W. Brown, a fugitive slave.
We hare received a copy of this able lecture, recently delivered by our friend and brother, William W. Brown. Mr. Brown is well known in Western New York as an efficient laborer in the anti-slavery field. He declared his independence of slavery but a few years since.
Narrative of William W. Brown.
This interesting and useful publication is now passing through a second edition. It is altogether worthy of a wide circulation. Copies of this work may be obtained at that office. TO CORRESPONDENTS.
J. H. C., of Brooklyn, N. Y. We whall be glad to receive his communication.
M. R. D. His letters and list from Buffalo have been received and credited. May his sanguine hopes be more than realised!
J. L., of Lawrence, Massachusetts. His flattering notice has been received. We trust the future course will give no less cause for satisfaction.
J. W. and J. S. J. The letter of these devoted friends was received, and the North Star forwarded to Albany, as requested. Their absence from the Rochester Bazaar and annual meeting was much regretted. They will act as Agents.
B. W. R., N. Newbury, Ohio. His list of cash subscribers are gratefully acknowledged.
E. L. P., of Bath, New York. Copies forwarded as requested.
S. B., of Salem, Ohio. Favor of December 29th received. Shall be unable to furnish the list therein called for.
M. A. T., of Fallstown, Pa. Happy to acknowledge his communication. The Star has been mailed to order.
J. M. McK., Philadelphia. His good word has been received, and subscribers supplied.
J. W. W., Utica, Ohio. His request has been complied with. May a good list of subscribers be the result.
D. R., Le Roy, New York. The matter shall be adjusted.
D. J., Columbus, Ohio. We hope to find room for his communication.
THE MEXICAN WAR.
The New Orleans Commercial Bulletin makes the following estimate of the cost of the war thus far:
| The increase of the public debt, agreeably to the statement of the President, has been | $27,870,859 |
| The surplus in the treasury at the commencement of hostilities, was | 12,000,000 |
| The additional surplus that would have accumulated up to this time, under a peace establishment and expenditure | 12,000,000 |
| The further extra surplus that would have also accumulated, under the operation of the tariff of 1846, agreeably to the President's statement, of more than | 8,000,000 |
| The Bounty Lands to the Volunteers | 8,000,000 |
| The arrearages for pay due the army and volunteers, and for supplies, contracts and damages, &c. | 12,000,000 |
| The sum required to replenish our arsenals | 4,000,000 |
| The Pension List, estimated on the average duration of twenty years of life, to the wounded and families of the dead, two millions per annum | 40,000,000 |
| Making a grand total of | $123,870,659 |
From the London Weekly Dispatch.
The miserable and devastating war between the United States and Mexico still continues. The war is growing at every point more sanguinary, as well as more desultory, and the individual passions of men are becoming more sternly and desperately exasperated against each other, converting the whole territory into a scene of outrage and bloodshed. We have in this war batch such a spectacle as the mother country, exhibited during the invasion of Napoleon,—a country occupied by the enemy in his capital and in most of its important points, but with the authority of the occupying power obeyed or respected only where an armed force is present to uphold it. We have a native population, quite incapable of contending in the field with the drilled armies of their invaders, driven from their homes in many instances, and with a fugitive government, almost unable to find a resting-place; yet among these people no idea is so hateful as that of peace, and no sentiment is so strong as that of vengeance on the aggressors. Santa Anna, though he has never been able to cope with his opponents in pitched battles, has great and acknowledged skill in erecting this guerilla spirit. He consents to negociate, but only to put his adversaries directly in the wrong, and to publish to Europe,, and especially to his own countrymen, the admission in plain words, or by as plain a silence, that his country has been attacked, and its citizens slaughtered, without any colorable plea. In his correspondence with Mr. Trist, the American Envoy, he insists that the treaty shall commence by a declaration of the causes of the war, or that it shall be distinctly declared that the Anglo-Americans decline to state them. The aggressors can find no reply, and stand self-convicted in the face that the world of the most unprovoked and barbarous attack. The Anglo-Americans are willing now to pay for the cessions they demand, and to take upon themselves the settlement of the very claims which they pretended to make the cause of quarrel—the debts due from Mexico to their citizens. All this, as Santa Anna forces them to prove, might have been gained, without spilling a drop of blood. In the midst of the horrors of this war, utterly disgraceful to the civilized world, more disgraceful to the republic which proposes itself as the pioneer of mankind, more scandalous still from the hypocritically insignificant cause of dispute, the organs of public opinion in the United States call for an increase of the evils of the war. They ask, with refined barbarity, the entire destruction of all the Mexican cities. We know the crimes and the suffering which such advice includes. There is no abomination which man can inflict or endure, which is not in the catalogue. And, composed as the American army mainly is, of the most ruffianly of their own people, aided by the buccaneers, the vomitings of all lands, we may imagine how such a work would be executed. A series of murders, rapes, robberies, and arsons, revenged by those against whom they are committed, is the war which the enlightened republic is recommended to wage, and which is very lively to result from the quarrel into which Mr. Polk has led his fellow-citizens. So mean an instrument never yet accomplished such tremendous evil. As for our American brethren, the children of our race, we ask, how long will they continue to disgrace us and themselves, and the institutions which the best men in both lands looked to as the beacon of their hopes? How long will they keep down the Anglo-Saxon race, and a republican constitution in one common and overwhelming infamy? Or, rather, how long will the good, the lovers of the liberty, the prophets of men's rights, suffer themselves to be ruled and represented by the vilest ambition that ever yet showed its recklessness of human sufferings, and its contempt for human progress?
From the Poughkeepsie Telegraph.
CHARLES VAN LOON.
An able and eloquent man has been stricken down in our midst. The Rev. Charles Van Loon, respected for his talents, and his faithfulness as a christian minister, has died in the morning of life, being only in his 29th year, and in a career of usefulness. To the First Baptist Church of which he was the devoted pastor, his loss will be great, to his wife and family irreparable, and to the community in which he lived, and where he was always ready to raise his voice for every benevolent or philanthropic movement, it will be generally mourned, as very difficult to be supplied.
Since his residence here, which has been upwards of four years, his health his been feeble, though he has been able most of the time to preach and discharge his other pastoral duties. During the last summer he left home on a tour for health, and travailed into Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and the western part of this State.
Since his return, his health has been better, and he has labored zealously in the cause to which his life was devoted. On Sabbath morning last, he preached, it was thought by its congregation, with even more than usual strength and terror; and in reply to some inquires afterwards as to his health, he replied "He never felt better in his life."
He gave out his subject for the evening, and stated his text would be "We all do fade as the leaf." Just before service, while he was engaged at his house in giving to a member of the choir the number of the hymns to be sung, he was suddenly seized with an apoplectic attack. Medical aid was immediately called, he was bled, and consciousness partially restored, but he was beyond human assistance, and died about one o'clock that night.
Thus has fallen a ripe scholar, a sound reasoner, and an able and impressive speaker. True it is, that when least expected, death aims his arrow at a shining mark.
It may be observed that his text in the morning foreshadowed his departure. It was from the sixteenth chapter of John, and at the last clause of the 32d verse, where Christ speaks of being separated from his disciples. The words are "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." And he alluded in conclusion, to the consoling fact, that the Christian was not alone in his dying hour.
The remains of the deceased were attended to the steamboat landing on Monday evening, by the Sons of Temperance, of Division No. 9, of which he was a member, and by the Rechabites, to be conveyed to Albany, where his parents reside, and where he had buried since his residence here two children. In the evening there were funeral services in the church of which he had been pastor. The building was crowded to overflowing, by the hundreds of our citizens whom he had often addressed, and by whom he was esteemed and beloved.
The following is an extract from a sermon preached in Poughkeepsie, on Monday evening, Nov. 22d, by the Rev. Mr. Ludlow.
"I never knew a man more principled in his every action, than Charles Van Loon. Nothing could intimidate or bribe him to turn aside a moment from what he believed to be the path of God's requirements, or descend from the eminence of acknowledged rectitude to a mean action. There was a magnanimity about our brother, whose character was truly enviable. It was on this account he threw himself into all the moral reforms of the day. In him, the down-trodden and the dumb of every complexion found a friend and advocate, and his voice was lifted up in every association which contemplated the ultimate overthrow of intemperance, licentiousness and slavery. It was nothing to Charles Van Loon, that the rich and polished turned the cold shoulder to these celestial enterprises. It was enough for him that they were crowned and blessed of God, and contemplated the redemption of suffering man from oppression and from crime. When Charles Van Loon was converted, he was consecrated to men as well as to God, to humanity as well as religion. As a minister of Christ, he was eminently powerfu1. Few men could command the attention of an audience, and hold the people in breathless silence, more than he. When he gave utterance to his deep convictions, in his deep and solemn tones, he made the congregation feel that the claims of Christ and of his Gospel to their respect and their confidence were real. He understood not only the system, but the philosophy of the theology he taught. His was not only the full assurance of faith, but the full assurance of the understanding."
TORREY'S MONUMENT.
A monument has just been erected, by means of voluntary contributions, over the grave of Torrey, in Mount Auburn. It occupies a conspicuous position, and is thus described by the Emancipator:
The form is three-sided, with such finishings as give it great beauty of appearance, as it stands, surrounded by three avenues. It is of fine Italian marble, handsomely clouded, resting on a granite base, which is itself elevated on a green mound, making the entire height upwards of ten feet, of which the marble makes eight feet and upwards.
The front or principal side has a beautiful medallion head of Torrey, cast in bronze, inserted in the marble with pleasing effect.
Reverend Charles T. Torrey, born at Scituate, Nov. 21. 1813: graduated at Yale College, Aug., 1833: ordained at Providence, March, 1837: arrested at Baltimore, June 24, 1844: died in the Penitentiary of that city, May 9, 1846.
The friends of the American slave erect this stone to his memory, as a martyr for liberty.
Over the head is the following sublime sentiment written by Torrey, in prison, but three months before his death, when he was already sinking under disease, and when he was apprehensive that his friends might urge him to purchase his release, by some acknowledgements or pledges unworthy of his principles and character:
"It is better to die in prison with the peace of God in our breasts, than to live in freedom, with a polluted conscience."—Torrey's letter, Feb. 7, 1846.
On the second side is a well conceived statue of a kneeling slave, cast in bronze, with these glorious lines of Whittier, Freedom's Poet.
"Where NOW beneath his burthen,
The toiling slave is driven,
Where now a tyrant's mockery
In offered unto Heaven;
THERE shall his praise be spoken,
Redeem'd from Falsehood's ban,
When the fetters shall be broken,
And the slave shall be a MAN."
On the third side is a brief and simple statement of the circumstances of his death, the facts alone, without comment or enhancement:
Charles Turner Torrey was arrested for aiding slaves to regain their liberty. For this act he was indicted as a criminal, and convicted by the Baltimore city court, and sentenced to the penitentiary for six years. While on his death-bed he was refused a pardon by the Governor of Maryland, and died of consumption, after two years confinement, a victim of his sufferings.
NOTICES OF THE NORTH STAR.
The following selections from numerous papers will show in what spirit the North Star is hailed by the press. A few of the baser sort, such as the New York Express, we understand, have made our appearance the occasion of pouring out a little of their pro-slavery hate. But this we can afford to bear, when we consider the respectful bearing toward us of the more respectable journals of our land.
The first number of this new Anti-Slavery paper, under the editorial control of Frederick Douglass, has appeared. It is well printed, and gives promise of ability. In sentiment it is ultra abolition; better in its denunciations of slavery, and making but little allowance for other people's opinions and prejudices. We see much in the opening number that we cannot agree with in sentiment; but the paper, as well as its proprietors, have our best wishes for its success.—Rochester Daily Democrat.
We have received the first number of Frederick Douglass' new paper, bearing the above title. It is unnecessary to say that it bears marks of much ability: for the public is well aware of the talents of its editor.
The fact that so creditable a journal is published and conducted by a colored man, is to us full of interest. It is very likely we shall differ widely in opinion from the North Star, yet we rejoice in the augury its publication affords, of the elevation which sooner or later must come to an oppressed race.—Rochester Daily American.
The new Anti-Slavery paper called the North Star has just made its appearance. It is a beautiful sheet, doing great credit to its printers and publishers. Frederick Douglass is its principal editor, and all who know him can make a correct estimate of its editorial ability. Mr. Douglass was once a slave: some ten years ago he escaped from bondage; the Abolitionists of Massachusetts discerned his talents, and gave him an education. Two years ago he went to England, and furnished the English with a good living text from which to vent their spleen against us. He received great attention, traveled through the United Kingdom, obtained from Englishmen his press and types, or at any rate the money wherewith to purchase them, and now has settled down in Rochester to speak out for his brethren who are lying in bondage.
Since his escape he has certainly enjoyed great advantages both of study and observation—and his fine natural talents have enabled him to improve them. In his new enterprise we hope he will take discretion as his guide, and remember that no matter how holy the cause he advocates, exhibitions of violence either in language or otherwise, only tend to retard its advance, whilst calmness and dignity win respect both for our arguments and ourselves. We wish him all the success he deserves.—Rochester Evening Gazette.
The first number of this large and interesting sheet is before us. It is published every Friday, at No. 25, Buffalo Sreet, Rochester, at two dollars per annum, always in advance. Frederick Douglass and M. R. Delany, editors.
Mr. Douglass, it is well known, is a manumitted slave, and has, for several years past, been a very popular lecturer in the cause of abolition. Consequently the "North Star," chiefly under his supervision, may be expected to be principally devoted to that cause. The Lord crown the philanthropic enterprise with abundant success.—Advent Harbinger.
This paper, of which Frederick Douglass is editor and proprietor, made its appearance in this city on Monday morning last. The paper is large and of respectable appearance. Mr. Douglass is a man of decided talent, and is capable of making the paper a very useful anti-slavery instrumentality. We apprehend, however, that the bent of the paper cannot be decided from the first issue. The number before us, so far as we can see, contains no very objectionable features. In the progress of the enterprise, we shall learn the tendency and spirit of the man and the paper.—Genesee Evangelist.
The first number of this paper—conducted by Frederick Douglass, the distinguished refugee from slavery—appeared some days since, but, owing to some mishap, we did not get hold of it until yesterday. A glance is all that we have been able to bestow upon it: but its mechanical appearance is exceedingly neat, and its leading article indicates a high order of talent. Mr. Douglass, it will not be denied, is a man of much more than an ordinary share of intellect; and having himself experienced the sweets of the "institution," it is not to be wondered that he is an enthusiastic abolitionist. As we have plenty of professing abolitionists among us, we trust they will deport from their usual liberality, and sustain Mr. Douglass' paper.—Rochester Daily Advertiser.
The North Star is the title of a paper just started in this city, devoted to the cause of Abolitionism, by Frederick Douglass, a colored man, who has felt the evils and wrongs of slavery in his own person for more than 20 years. He has traveled and lectured extensively in this country and in many parts of Europe, and has obtained from the latter country money sufficient for his present undertaking. He is possessed of the requisite talent and information to make his paper an efficient organ of the Abolition party.—Christian Sentinel.
We have just received the first number of Mr. Douglass' new paper, the "North Star," published at Rochester. N. Y. It is a large and handsome sheet, exceedingly well printed and put together. Its principal editorial contents are, the editor's introduction to his readers, (which we shall copy in another place;) an address to the colored population; and a letter, extremely pointed and spirited, to Mr. Clay, suggested by his late Lexington speech. Its literary and mechanical execution would do honor to any paper, new or old, anti-slavery or pro-s1averv, in the country. Mr. Douglass has our sincere good wishes for the highest degree of prosperity and usefulness in his new career. The prospects of his labors in this as yet untried field, are certainly full of promise of an answering harvest. We hope, as we believe, that it will not "unbeseem the promise of its Spring."
Dr. M. R. Delany, late of the Pittsburg Mystery, (which, we believe, has been united with the North Star,) is associated with Mr. Douglass in the editorship of the new paper, and will bring a measure of practical experience into the partnership which cannot fail of being advantageous to its interests. Mr. William C. Nell, favorably known to most of our readers from its connection formerly with the Liberator, and from his prominence in all efforts for the improvement and advancement of our colored countrymen, is the publisher of the paper. His connection with it will, if possible, increase the interest which will be felt, in this region, in the success of the undertaking. The printer is Mr. John Dick, the son of Mr. Thomas Dick, of London, who is known to our readers by his communications in our columns, as one of our most intelligent friends abroad. Mr. John Dick came to this country in the course of the last summer, and made a very favorable impression upon those who made his acquaintance here, during his short sojourn among us. It must be a source of just satisfaction to the friends of Mr. Douglass in England, who supplied the means for his enterprise, that he has secured the services of this gentleman in carrying it on.
The next number of the North Star will be issued on the first Friday in January, and thenceforward regularly on every succeeding Friday. Its terms are two dollars, always in advance. We are happy to hear that the present state of the subscription list is encouraging, and trust that it will become all that its friends can desire.—Q.—Liberator.
We have received the first number of Frederick Douglass' pager—the North Star. It is neatly printed with handsome type, on a sheet almost the size of this. Its selections are judiciously made, and its editorials well written. Altogether, it does credit to the taste, the skill, and the ability of its proprietor and editor, and is all that its best friends could wish it to be. We cannot better give an idea of its contents, and the spirit with which its editor has commenced his new vocation, than by copying his introductory.—National Anti-Slavery Standard.
We are right glad to welcome this superlatively able and spirited advocate of the enslaved class from one of themselves. It is a living word which cannot fail to impress the heart of this nation. Here is a chattel in human shape who on our boasted national principle takes the reins of self-government into his own hands, revolutionizes himself, escapes from a slave state, works three years on the wharves in New Bedford, travels, lectures, writes, speaks in his own great cause, and that of his people, seven years more, and now raises in the sight of the whole nation a journal edited with as much ability as any that can be named. Of scholar, poet or statesman, we care not of whom, nothing in the shape of a weekly journal can be found more instinct with genius and mental power. We put if fearlessly to the decision of editors most devoured with prejudice against color, such as the editor of the New York Sunday Despatch, for example, can you find any short coming in this effort? Can you find a man in the editorial field who can bear the palm from Frederick Douglass? Call him saucy, impudent, out of place. There he is, a whole man—though black and a runaway slave. And we put it to the most rabid colorphobist of the whole of them, whether it is anything short of the most devilish folly to use up such timber as Douglass is made of for the vile purposes of slavery.
Douglass' paper is published at Rochester, N. Y., for $2 per annum, in advance. And it is worth any man a money. We shall give some rich extracts from it such. The typographical execution of it is first rate. Mr. Douglass is assisted in the editorial department by Mr. M. R. Delany, a gentleman of his own color; and the publisher is William C. Nell, a colored Boston boy, well known for his gentlemanly bearing and business energy.—Chronotype.
We have received from Rochester, N. Y., the first number ff Frederick Douglass' paper, which bears the name of Freedom's glorious beacon light. It is a large sheet, well printed, on good paper, and is decidedly prepossessing in typographical appearance. The motto it bears is a sentiment worthy of a reformer with the noblest aims and widest philanthropy:—"Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren." Its opening address is manly and serious, and breathes a hopeful spirit, which is encouraged by the favorable prospects with which the enterprise commences. Perhaps no man can be found within their ranks better qualified in all respects to be the organ of the people of color in their present struggle for equal manhood in their native land. To remarkable powers of intellect, and a clear moral vision, and unconquerable perseverance, he aids the still more important qualification for this work, the solemn conviction that he is called to it. But he is too well known to our readers to need any commendation from us. That the North Star will be a powerful auxiliary to the anti-slavery cause, and eminently worthy of patronage, no one who knows Mr. Douglass will doubt. We especially hope that the colored people will extensively subscribe for it, for their own sake, as well as to sustain the paper. It is a paper which will stimulate them to improvement, and elevate their moral and intellectual character, and increase their self-respect, and the respect of other men for them. To break down the walls of prejudice, which now shut them from many avenues to honor and excellence, they should rally, by thousands, around Douglass, and sustain his hands and strengthen his heart. We quote a passage from his opening address which will show the spirit and hope with which he enters upon his new and important enterprise.—Pennsylvania Freeman.
The North Star, a new weekly folio, by Frederick Douglass & Co., No. 1, reaches us from Rochester—vigorously edited but not well printed. Its motto is—"Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, arid all we are brethren." Douglass does not write so happily as he speaks; but, considering that he was a benighted slave until twenty-one years old, next a laborer for three years on the wharves at New Bedford, never had a day's schooling in his life, and has been only nine years out of bondage, (if the condition of a colored hireling in a Northern city is to be considered freedom,) all must pronounce him a man of decided talent. His principal article in this No. is a letter to Mr. Clay, in review of his remarks on slavery in his late speech at Lexington—caustic, forcible, but rather more savage than is politic.
We trust the African race in this country will resolve to concentrate their patronage on the Star. Douglass is among the ablest, if not the very ablest, of their number, and will fight their battle vigorously.—N. Y. Tribune.
We have received the first number of an anti-slavery paper bearing the above title, published at Rochester, edited by Frederick Douglass and M. R. Delany. The paper evinces considerable talent, and the former gentleman (who has been a slave,) asserts his right to freedom by publishing a bill of sale, and a receipt in full for his purchase as a slave from one whom he terms a "cold-blooded Methodist man-stealer," and "the hypocritical nation that has sanctioned his infamous claim."
Although we do not coincide with the abolition views of the Star, we are willing that every one should enjoy their own principles, which they have an undoubted right to do; and if there are any in this section who wish to support a paper of this character, we would recommend them to the North Star, as in patronizing that sheet, they bestow their favors upon "one who has felt the wrongs of slavery, and fathomed the depths of its iniquity."—Newark (N. Y.) Herald.
The North Star is the title of a weekly paper at Rochester, N. Y., edited by Frederick Douglass, the fugitive slave. Its motto is, "Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren."
*******
Douglass was a benighted slave, until 21 years old, next a laborer for three years on the wharves at New Bedford, never had a day's schooling in his life, has been only nine years out of bondage, and now we find him issuing one of the ablest papers in the Union. Who says the colored race is inferior in intellect?—Hampshire Herald.
We have received the first number of this paper issued at Rochester. N. Y. William C. Nell, publisher, and Frederick Douglass and M. R. Delaney, editors.
*******
Frederick Douglass is now about 29 years of age. We regard him as one of the most extraordinary of living men. It would seen, as if Providence had raised him up to deliver his race from bondage. We trust he will keep his eye fixed on this single sheet, and not suffer his influence to be lessened by collateral questions, not having a direct bearing upon the welfare of his race.—Cleveland (O.) True Democrat.
** We hail this accession to our list of co-laborers—this mouth-piece for the dumb slaves.
We shall say little or this behalf, as little need be said. That little we allow Mr. D. to say for himself.**** [Bangor Gazette.
The first number of the "Star," which we have been expecting for some weeks, has come to hand. Mr. Delany, formerly editor of the Pittsburg Mystery, is associated with Mr. Douglass in the editorial charge of the paper. The Star is declined, we believe, to be a powerful agent in regenerating the public sentiment of this nation on the great question of human freedom. We give in another column the address of the editors, to the colored people of the United States. It is forcible and high toned; and we are sure will be read with interest, not only by these to whom it is addressed, but by all who are friendly to the elevation of the colored man.—Anti-Slavery Bugle.
We hail this paper as a good omen, presaging the downfall of the barrier of prejudice existing towards the colored race. The first number is crowded with articles which would do honor to the pen of Henry Clay. We welcome the "North Star," with almost the same feeling the fugutive slave does the orb after which it is called, when it bursts upon his eager view, to guide him to the land of freedom. May all the expectations of friend Douglass be realized, and may his paper prove all that his friends have anticipated. With such a man as Frederick Douglass at its head, the "North Star" cannot fail to give light to the minds, and strike conviction to the souls of his white but bitter enemies. Again we say, success.—J. W.—Clarion of Freedom, (O.)
Frederick Douglass, the manumitted slave, whose lectures upon slavery have attracted so much attention in this country and Europe, has commenced the publication, at Rochester, of a paper called the "North Star." Its regular issue will commence on the first Friday in January next. The specimen sheet has been sent to us. Its typography is neat; its selections are in good taste, and its editorials exhibit a high order of talent, fervently engaged in the political and social regeneration of the wronged and oppressed victims of American slavery.—Niagara Courier.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Utica Steam Woolen Factory.—We take special pleasure in noticing the fact that dividend of ten per cent. on the stock has been declared to the stockholders in the Utica Steam Woolen Co. The first piece of finished goods was completed in this factory about the end of March last, and the establishment was not put into full operation till the latter part of April. This dividend is the result, therefore, of considerably less than a year's operation, and is a bona fide division of actual profits. It augurs well for our steam manufacturing enterprises.—Utica Gazette.
"Got a paper to spare?"
"Yes, sir; here is one of our last. Would you like to subscribe, sir, and take it regularly?"
"I would—but I am too poor."
The man had just returned from the circus, which cost fifty cents; lost time from his farm, fifty cents; whiskey, judging from the smell, at least fifty cents—making a dollar and a half actually thrown away, and then begging for a newspaper, alleging that he was too poor to pay for it!
That's what wo call "saving at the spile, and wasting at the bung hole."
Mountains of Eatables.—The annual product of provisions in this country is enormous. The statistics of the commerce of our state canals during the season just closed, prove this. Look at the mighty heap of eatables, for instance:
There were brought to the Hudson river, on all the canals of this state, during the year 1847, of
| Flour, | 3,952,972 | bbls. |
| Grain, of all kinds, | 14,055,916 | bush. |
| Peas and Beans, | 106,088 | bush." |
| Potatoes, | 108,369 | bush." |
| Dried Fruits, | 3,558,000 | lbs. |
| Pork and Beef, | 148,445 | bbls. |
| Bacon, | 4,902,000 | lbs. |
| Cheese, | 40,844,000 | lbs." |
| Butter, | 22,724,000 | lbs." |
| Lard, | 4,348,000 | lbs." |
[Albany Express.
Women in the Army.—Official documents state that there are at least 2,300 women attached to the American army, cooking, washing and tending the sick.
The Largest Church in the United States.—The First African Church, (Baptist,) Richmond, Virginia, is said to be the largest body of communicants in connection with a single congregation in the Union, being two thousand four hundred and seventy. The other churches of the same denomination in that city report in addition two hundred and 268 sixty eight colored members. Total 2,788.
What the Girls of the Bay State Do.—We have received the statistics of the various branches of industry in Massachusetts for 1845, taken with the census that year. To show our young ladies that it is no disgrace to work in the pilgrim land, we give them the particulars of the straw bonnets and hats, and straw braid, and palm-leaf hats made there in one year:
| No. | Value. | |
| Straw bonnets and hats, | 1,046,954 | 1,057,892 |
| Value of straw braid, | 102,367 | |
| Palm-leaf hat, | 480,337 | |
| $1,640,596 |
All this by females, mostly farmers' daughters. Worcester, Hampshire, and Franklin counties do most. Are not such industrious girls worth going after? Instead of street yarn, they are for dollars and cents. They don't constantly bother their parents and husbands with teasing for a new silk dress or $40 shawl. They have the money in their purses, from their own industry. There are lots of rosy cheeks who have their hundreds deposited in banks, from the straw braid employment. We once knew two sisters who bought a farm for $4,000 for their parents, from the savings of braid.—Rochester Daily American.
An Irish Compliment.—A lovely girl was bending her head over a rose tree which a lady was purchasing from an Irish basket woman in Covent Garden market, when the woman, looking kindly at the young beauty, said: "I axes yer pardon, young lady, but if it's pleasing to ye, I'd thank ye to keep yer cheek away from that rose; ye'll put the lady out of consait with the color of her flowers."
The Chicago (Illinois) Citizen, in an article on the colored population, thus speaks:
"We have made some inquiries into the condition of the colored people in this city. There are probably three hundred colored inhabitants here. Many of them are persons of property; none of them are in the lowest stages of poverty; and the day is yet to come when any one has seen a colored person begging from door to door, which cannot be said of the people of any other origin residing here. In moral character they stand on a par with any other class of our citizens."
Literature and Learning in China.—The Chinese are a reading people, and the number of their published works is very considerable. In the departments of morals, history, biography, the drama, poetry, and romance, there is no lack of writings, such as they are. The Chinese materia medica comprises forty octavo volumes; of statistical works the number is very large. Their novels are said to be excellent pictures of the national manners. China is full of books. New authors are continually spring up; the press is active, and the traffic in books is a lucrative and most honorable branch of trade. When examination take place in the capital of the palace, the most apt students are chosen to fill the office of bookmakers. There are, however, few really new works, and all that appear are compilations and quotations, the author never venturing an idea of his own; and in this consists their learning, according to Chinese notions. There is one work in the Royal Library on the topography of China, which is said to consist of 5,000 volumes: some of the best translators that have had access to some extracts from this giant, were sadly disappointed, as it appears to be a mass of confusion, without any attempt at order or proper arrangement. There are numerous small treatises similar to our tracts, gratuitously distributed by private, individuals, inculcating morality and virtue. Printing is evidently cheaper in China than in this country, when ten volumes, each containing 100 pages, can be purchased for less than a dollar. Every peasant, and the poorest fisherman, can read and write. Private and public schools are numerous in every province, and entirely independent of government. Occasionally, an examiner visits all schools, to ascertain the qualifications of the teachers.
The Mother.—Sheridan wrote: "Women govern us; let us try to render them perfect. The more they are enlightened, so much the more we shall be. On the cultivation of the moods of women, depends the wisdom of men." Napoleon said: "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother."
Chancellor Kent.-His health has been failing, by slow degrees, for some months past, and he was daily waiting for his departure. He expired, we are told, without suffering, and in the perfect possession of his faculties to the last. Up to within a few days of his death he was occupied in correcting the proof sheets of one of his works, an edition of which was passing through the press. In his death, we have lost a great man, a man of great judicial talent and erudition, and endowed with many virtues.—Eve. Post.
☞ A rumseller once visiting a victim of his murderous traffic on his death-bed, said to him: "Do you remember me?" "Yes," said the dying man, with a startling emphasis, "I do remember you, and I remember your shop, where I formed the habit which has ruined me; and when I am dead, my beggared widow and fatherless children will remember you."
For the Ladies.—The following scrap is taken from Henry's commentary:
"Woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to top him—not made out of his feet to be trampled upon by him—but under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."
Female Courage.—A servant girl, remarkable for her fearless disposition, laid a wager that she would go into a charnel-house at midnight with a light, and bring from thence a dead-man's skull. Accordingly, the appointed time, she went, but the person with whom she had made the bet had gone before and hid himself in the place. When he heard her descend and take up the skull, he called out, in a hollow, dismal voice, "Leave me my head!" The girl, instead of displaying symptoms of horror or fright, very coolly laid it down, and said, "Well, there it is," and took up another; upon which the voice repeated, "Leave me my head!" But the heroic girl, observing it was the same voice that had called before, answered, in her own country dialect, "Na, na, friend; ye cana ha' twa heads!"
Gallantry.—Fontenelle, assisting at the marriage of Madame Helvetius, did not cease to whisper the most gallant things. Some moments after, he passed before her without perceiving her. Madame Helvetius, remarking his distraction, said to him:
"How lightly should I esteem your gallantries, since you pass me without looking at me?"
"Madame, replied the amiable old man, "If I had looked at you, I should not have passed you."
Correct Definition.—An intelligent female witness having been much perplexed by Old Blowhard in a long cross-examination, happened in replying to use the term humbug.
"Madam, said the man of the law, "you must not talk unintelligibly. What is the court and jury to understand by the term humbug?"
The lady hesitated.
"I must insist, madam," said the counsellor, anticipating a victory, "that you proceed no farther until you state plainly and openly what you mean by humbug."
"Why, then, sir," returned the lady, "I don't know how better to express my meaning than by saying, if I met a company of persons who were strangers to you, and should tell them that when they saw you, they might prepare to see a remarkably learned, courteous and agreeable man—that would be a humbug."
MARRIED.
On the 8th ult., by Rev. Mr. Shaw, Mr. BENJ. EMERSON, of Ridgeway, to Miss Mary S., daughter of John Foster, of this city.
On the 15th ult., by E. Barnard, Esq., Mr. JACOB HOLDEN to Miss ELIZABETH D. HICKS, all of this city.
On the 23d ult., by Rev. Mr. Holland, Mr. JOHN FARRANT, to ELLEN HARRIS, alt of this city.
DIED.
On the evening of the 22d ult., of Whooping Cough, ELLEN COOK, youngest daughter of Henry and Abigail Bush, of this city.
In this city, of consumption, on Friday evening, the 24th ult., ISAAC R. HALL, aged 27 years, son of Joseph Hall, Esq.
In this city, on the 13th ult., of a short illness, Dr. E. G. MUNN, aged 44.
Post and Willis, Dealers in Drugs, Medicines, Chemicals, Dye Stuffs, Paints, Varnish, Oils, Glassware, Brushes, Perfumery, Daguerreotype, Stock, French and German Chemicals, Artists' Colors, Brushes and Canvass, Etherial Oil, Gold Leaf and Foil, &c. &c.
Being Agents for most of the celebrated Family and valuable Patent Medicines, and receiving the same directly from the Manufacturers or their Agents, they are enabled to supply all orders at wholesale and retail, on the most favorable terms.
Homœopathic Books, Medicines, and Family Cases, with full directions. Only agents for Western New York.
Also, Sherwood's Vibratory Magnetic Machines, with directions.
Phosgene Gas; also Etherial Oil and Lamps, for burning the same. Those who would consult economy and convenience are invited to examine these Lamps. The attention of Country Merchants, Physicians, Families, and others, wishing goods in the above line, is requested at the APOTHECARIES' HALL, 4, Exchange Street.
UNIVERSE COOKING STOVES.
The Subscribers are manufacturing this invaluable Cooking Stove, designed for Coal or Wood, warranted to excel any other stove ever invented, and constructed strictly upon philosophical principles. The Oven heated by hot air, (the only hot air oven ever patented,) and warranted to bake as well as any brick oven. For sale only by the undersigned, wholesale and retail, 34, Exchange Street. H. BUSH & CO.
OWEN MORRIS' CITY BINDERY,
under the Museum—late Fisher & Morris.
Mr. Morris was in the employ of Mr. Marcus Morse for seven years, and during that time procured for him three Silver Medals, for the best specimens of Book Binding, exhibited at Mechanics' Fairs held in this city and Buffalo.
Gentlemen's Libraries fitted up and repaired ; Music Paper ruled; Music and Periodicals bound and finished to any pattern. Blank Account Books executed at this establishment have given unequalled satisfaction, by their durability and elegance. Strict attention is always paid to the quality of paper used, to render them equal to the best of the United States or those imported.
Ladies' Scrap and Guard Books, Albums and Portfolios, in all their varieties, manufactured to order in the best style.
Banks, Institutions, Societies, &c., may be assured of work being done on the most advantageous terms.
Gentlemen residing at a distance, by packing and forwarding volumes to the above directives, stating price and style, may rely upon their being well bound on the most favorable terms, also carefully and punctually returned.
N.B. The proprietor has spared no expense to fitting up the establishment, and introducing into Western New York the latest improvements in Book Binding.
OWEN MORRIS,
City Bindery, under the Museum.
BOSTON ADVERTISEMENTS.
CLARKSON,
LONDON EDITION—WITH PORTRAIT.
A few copies of CLARKSON'S HISTORY OF THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE; with prefatory remarks on the subsequent abolition of Slavery; a beautiful London edition, with a fine Portrait of the Author, done on steel,—a book which could not be imported for less than three dollars, can be had at 21, Cornhill, if applied for immediately, at the very low price of One Dollar, cash. Also, EULOGIUM ON CLARKSON, by Alexander Crummell, at the reduced price of twelve and a half cents.
ROBERT MORRIS, Jr., Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Brazer's Building, State Street.
JOSEPH H. TURPIN would invite the attention of his friends and the public to his DAGUERRIAN GALLERY, No. 138, Hanover Street, where he pledges himself to execute Miniatures with a lifelike finish, and on as moderate terms as any others in the profession.
MACON B. ALLEN, Attorney and Counsellor at at Law, Massachusetts Block.
BOYS' CLOTHING.
SAMUEL WILSON, 14, Brattle Street, having made recent additions to his stock, is prepared to furnish BOYS' CLOTHING, of as material and fit, and at as cheap prices, as can be obtained in the city.
NEW ENGLAND SECOND HAND CLOTHING STORE,
No. 56, Union Street, Boston.
JOHN WRIGHT keeps constantly on hand a great variety of New and Second Hand Clothing. Goods of all kinds, such as old clothes, W. I. goods, Watches, Boots and Shoes, &c., exchanged for new clothing. Cash advanced on all kinds of goods, from one to one hundred dollars.
JOHN D. REVALEON, Hair Cutting Saloon, and Perfumery Emporium, 114, Blackstone-st.
NEW YORK ADVERTISEMENTS
DR. J. M'CUNE SMITH, 93, West Broadway.
T. JINNINGS, Surgeon-Dentist, 185, North Broadway.
PHILIP A. WHITE, Druggist, corner of Frankfort and Gold Street.
WILLIAM S. POWELL, Sailor's Home, 61, Cherry Street.
WILLlAM RICH, Hair Dressing and Bathing Saloon, Troy House, Troy, New York.
NORTHAMPTON WATER CURE.
The undersigned, gratefully appreciating the credit generously awarded by a discerning public to his success as a Hydropathic Practitioner, would respectfully inform the friends of Hydropathy, that his establishment is pleasantly situated near Bensonville, on the west bank of the Licking Water, or Mill River, about two and a half miles from the centre of the town. It is thirty-six by seventy first; three stories high, with a piazza on the south side. There are separate parlors, bathing and dressing rooms, for ladies and gentlemen. There are also twenty lodging rooms, each of which is well ventilated and conveniently furnished for the accommodation of two persons. Among the variety of baths in the establishment are, the plunge, douche, drencher, and spray baths. The ladies' plunge is six by ten feet, three and a half deep; the gentlemen's, eight by twelve, three and a half deep. There are also two cold douches, one of which is situated a mile, and the other half a mile from the establishment. The former has a fall of twenty-two feet, the latter eighteen. The scenery in this vicinity is picturesque and romantic. There are a variety of pleasant walks passing near and to springs of pure water. The walks are sufficiently retired to allow water-cure patients to appear as they should, plainly dressed, enjoying their rambles, without being exposed to public gaze or observation. Since daily experience, for the last three years, has strengthened his opinion, that the condition of the skin clearly indicates the character of many diseases, and the ability of inability of an invalid to bear the water treatment in its various forms; also the necessity of applying the dry woollen blanket, or the wet sheet, to promote evaporation or a sweat, when either may be necessary; and from results which have attended his application of the treatment, he hesitates not to say, that the electric symptom of the skin indicates vitality or power, and that an invalid, whose skin is not attended with this symptom, cannot be safely or successfully treated with water. Among the complaints which are here successfully treated, are pulmonary affection, liver complaints, jaundice, acute or chronic inflammation of the bowels, piles, dyspepsia, general debility, nervous and spinal affections, inflammatory or chronic rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica, lame-limbs, paralysis, fevers, salt rheum, scrofulous and erysipelas humors.
All patients who visit this establishment for a course of treatment, should furnish themselves with three comfortables, three woollen blankets, one linen and three cotton sheets, two pillow cases, six crash towels, some well worn linen, to cut for fomentations, an old cloak or mantle, and a syringe.[1]
Terms for treatment and board are $5 50 per week, for those who occupy rooms on the third floor; on the first and second floors, $6 00 per week, payable weekly; washing extra. A patient, who, from choice or necessity, occupies a room alone, on the third floor, will pay $8 00 per week; on the first and second floors, $8 50 per week. Invalids who are so feeble as to need extra attention and fire in their rooms, (except for swathing purposes,) will procure their own nurses and fuel, or pay an extra price.
D. RUGGLES.
Northampton, Aug. 1847.
N.B. The afflicted, desirous of being examined in regard to their complaints, and of ascertaining the adaptedness of the water-cure in their particular case, should call on Tuesdays and Fridays.
- ↑ This instrument may be obtained at the establishment.
WILLIAM B. LOGAN, Dealer in Fashionable Boots and Shoes, 80, Purchase Street, New Bedford.
W. B. L. keeps constantly on hand a good assortment, and will sell cheap for cash. Strict attention paid to custom-made work, by Messrs. Parker and Davis.
WASHINGTON'S Daguerrian Gallery, 138, Main Street, Kellog's Buildings, Harford, Connecticut.
THE NATIONAL ERA: Washington City, District of Columbia. G. Bailey, Editor; John G. Whittier, Corresponding Editor. L. P. Noble, Publisher.
The leading purpose of this journal is, the discussion of the question of Slavery, and the advocacy of the main principles of the Liberty Party. Due attention is given to Social and Political questions of general importance; nor are the interests of a pure Literature overlooked.
It aims to preserve a faithful record of important events; of inventions or discoveries affecting the progress of society; of public documents of permanent value; and, during the sessions of Congress, to present such reports of its proceedings, as will convey a correct idea not only of its action, but of its spirit and policy. The debates on the exciting subjects of Slavery and the Mexican War, expected to arise in the next Congress, will occupy a large share of its columns.
Arrangements have been made for extending and enriching its already valuable department of home and foreign correspondence.
It is printed on a mammoth sheet, of the finest quality, in the best style, at $2 a year, payable in advance.
The generous spirit in which the Era has been welcomed by the public press, and the very liberal patronage it has received during this, the first year of its existence, encourages us to hope for large accessions to our subscription list.
It is desirable that subscriptions be forwarded without delay, so that they may be entered before the approaching Congress.
All communications addressed to
L. P. NOBLE,
Publisher of the National Era, Washington, D.C.
THE DAILY AND WEEKLY CHRONOTYPE. Edited by Elizur Wright. Published by White, Potter & Wright, 15, State Street, Boston. Terms: Daily, ONE CENT, each number. For ant sum forwarded to the publishers free of expense, they will send the paper at that rate till the money is exhausted. Weekly, Two Dollars a year in advance, or for any shorter time at the same rate. For five dollars, three copies will be sent for one year.
This publication is made in the finest style of newspaper typography. It is independent of all sects, parties, and cliques, expressing freely the views of the editor and of such correspondents as he thinks proper to admit, on all subjects of human interests.
It advocates equally of human rights, and the abolition of slavery, through land reform, cheap postage, abstinence for intoxicating drinks, exemption of temperance men from taxes to repair the damages of drinking, a reform in writing and spelling the English language, the abolition of capital punishment, universal and kindly toleration in religion, life and health insurance, water-cure, working men's protective unions, and all other practical forms of associations for mutual aid—and generally, Progress.
It also gives the news from all parts of the country in the most condensed and intelligible style.
Its Exchange List is already very large—so large that it will be increased only on condition that the paper requesting the exchange will keep the above Prospectus standing in its columns.
Any country paper which will keep the above in its columns, and furnish us with the most important news of its vicinity, by slip or otherwise, in advance of its regular publication, shall be supplied with the Daily Chronotype, in exchange for its weekly, and have our best thanks and due credit to boot.
THE PUBLISHERS.
Boston, Sept. 2, 1847.
THE DELAWARE ABOLITIONIST.
A PAPER of the above name will be published in Wilmington, by the Delaware Anti-Slavery Society. It will be edited by a Committee, and will be published on a half medium sheet, at twenty-five cents per year, or for twenty-four numbers. It will be devoted to emancipation in Delaware, and will advocate its accomplishment by all lawful means. It will be published semi-monthly, if means are afforded, or as often as the means can be obtained.
JAMES B. BROOKE,
Publishing Agent.
POETRY.
From the New York Tribune.
SONG OF THE AMERICAN EAGLE.
by a Lady of Vermont.
I build my nest on the mountain's crest,
Where the wild winds rock my eaglets to rest;
Where the lightnings flash, and the thunders crash,
And the roaring torrents foam and dash;
For my spirit free henceforth shall be,
A type of the sons of Liberty.
Aloft I fly, from my eyrie high,
Through the vaulted dome of the azure sky;
On a sunbeam bright take my airy flight,
And float in a flood of liquid light;
For I love to play in the noontide ray,
And bask in a blaze from the throne of Day.
Away I spring with a tireless wing,
On a feathery cloud I poise and swing;
I dart down the steep where the lightnings leap,
And the clear blue canopy swiftly sweep;
For dear to me is the revelry
Of a free and fearless Liberty.
I love the land where the mountains stand,
Like the watchtowers high of a patriot band;
For I may not bide, in my glory and pride,
Though the land be never so fair and wide,
Where Luxury reigns o'er voluptuous plains,
And fetters the freeborn soul in chains.
Then give to me in my flights to see
The land of the pilgrims ever free;
And I ne'er will rove from the haunts I love,
But watch, from my sentinel track above,
Your banner free over land and sea,
And exult in your glorious destiny.
Oh, guard ye well the land where I dwell,
Lest to future times the tale I tell,
When slow expires in smoldering fires
The goodly heritage of your sires,
How Freedom's light rose clear and bright
From fair Columbia's beacon-height,
Till ye quenched the flame in a starless night.
Then will I tear from your pennon fair
The stars ye set in triumph there!
My olive-branch on the blast I'll launch,
The fluttering stripes from the flag-staff wrench!
And away I'll flee, for I scorn to see
A craven race in the land of the free.
D.
Brandon, Vermont, Jan. 1844.
From the Philadelphia Saturday Courier.
MEMORY OF CLARKSON.
Lines Occasioned by the Death of the Great and Good Thomas Clarkson.
Clarkson! revered in every clime
Where Mercy lifts her voice sublime,
Immortal honors—guiltless fame—
Deep in our hearts have set thy name.
The patriot's wreath, though bright, must fade;
The diadem, by mortals made,
Grows dim and pale, beside that crown
Which circles thy unsought renown.
Thy simple majesty of mind,
Thy lofty purpose, well defined,
Shall stand before that searching eye
Which every motive can descry.
A foreign shore, the stranger's land,
The pathless waste, the burning sand,
Witnessed alike thy steady aim
A nation's sorrows to proclaim.
To break the fetters of the slave
Thy great resolve had aimed to save,
And change them to that golden chain,
By Heaven designed, from Heaven which came:
The links composed, since time began,
Of boundless love to erring man,
Though dimmed awhile and blended here
With strange alloy of guilt and fear.
Illustrious hero, great and good,
No trophies, stained with human blood,
Above thy honored dust shall wave,
To mock thy pure, unblemished grave.
Friend of my race, farewell! farewell!
Affection weeps to hear thy knell;
Thy requiem shall be fondly sung,
In distant land and foreign tongue.
And when thou standest at "the gate,"
Where countless myriads trembling wait,
Thine be the great reward to win—
"My faithful servant, enter in!"
THE MECHANIC.
I am Nature's own nobleman, happy and free,
A peer of the realm might well envy me;
For the land of the eagle has given me birth,
And my sons are all freemen that meet round my hearth.
Your cities now rising with beauty and might,
Whose palace-like towers are fair to the sight,
My hands helped to build them, my strength lent its aid,
And by the sweat of my brow your proud cities are made.
The ship that sweeps proudly o'er the far-spreading sea,
Has been timbered and fashioned by the labor of me,
And the pure massive marble that strikes on the view,
Is chiselled and formed by the artisan too.
The smith, as he hums o'er his anvil a glee,
He toils not for happiness or power—not he;
He dreads not lost office, he seeks none to gain—
And the smith is a king in his own proud domain.
The bravest of men from mechanics have sprung,
And the sweetest of lays mechanics have sung,
And the proudest of hearts mechanics should wear,
When conscious of right in their bosoms they bear.
From the Ladies' Repository.
ELOQUENCE.
It welleth up from brimming founts,
Deep hidden in the soul—
And with a strong resistless power,
Its chainless waters roll.
It gushes on in words of fire;
It scorches with its breath;
And as the heart is pure or dark,
Its words are life or death.
It peals in thunders loud and deep,
That make the mountains quake;
The mighty despot on his throne,
Doth feel its pillars shake.
In Justice' great and outraged name,
The giant voice doth crave
Redress for earth's down-trodden ones,
And freedom for the slave.
SONG OF THE SEASON.
by Eliza Cook.
Look out, look out, there are shadows about;
The forest is donning its doublet of brown,
The willow tree sways with a gloomier flout,
Like a beautiful face with a gathering frown.
'Tis true we all know that summer must go,—
That the swallow will never stay long in our eaves;
Yet we'd rather be watching the wild rose blow,
Than be counting the colours of Autumn leaves.
Look high, look high, there's the lace-winged fly,
Thinking he's king of a fairy realm,
As he swings with delight on the gossamer tie
That is linked 'mid the boughs of the sun-tipp'd elm.
Alas, poor thing, the first rustle will bring
The pillars to dust, when your pleasure-clue weave,
And many a spirit, like thine, will bring,
To hopes that depend upon Autumn leaves.
Look low, look low, the night-gusts blow,
And the restless forms in hectic red,
Come whirling and spouting wherever we go,
Lighter in dancing, as nearer the dead!
Oh, who has not seen rare hearts, that have been
Painted and puling, in garb that deceives
Dashing gaily along in their fluttering sheen
With Despair at the core, like Autumn leaves.
Look on, look on, morn breaketh upon
The hedge-row boughs, in their withering hue;
The distant orchard is sallow and wan,
But the apple and nut gleam richly through.
Oh, well will it be, if our life, like the tree,
Shall be found, when old Time of green beauty bereaves,
With the fruit of good works for the Planter to see,
Shining out in Truth's harvest, through Autumn leaves.
Merrily pours, as it sings and soars,
The west wind over the lands and seas,
Till it plays in the forest and moans and roars,
Seeming no longer a mirthful breeze.
So music is blest, till it meeteth a breast
That is probed by the strain, while memory grieves
To think it was sung by a loved one at rest,—
Then it comes like the sweet wind in Autumn leaves.
Not in an hour are leaf and flower
Strickened in freshness, and swept to decay;
By gentle approaches, the frost and the shower
Make ready the sap vines for falling away.
And so is man made to as peacefully fade,
By the tear that he sheds and the sigh that he heaves,
For he's loosened from earth by each trial-cloud's shade,
Till he's willing to go, as the Autumn leaves.
Look back, look back, and you'll find the track
Of human hearts, strewn thickly o'er
With joy's dead leaves, all dry and black,
And every year still flinging more.
But the soil is fed, where the branches are shed,
For the furrow to bring forth fuller sheaves,
And so is our trust in the Future spread
In the gloom of Mortality's Autumn leaves.
SPEECH OF GEORGE THOMPSON.
(Continued from first page.)
twos and threes over the vast surface of the country, and set about teaching 100,000,000 of natives how to grow a plant which their forefathers had cultivated in perfection for 3,000 years. Two of these Americans, Messrs. Mercer and Howley, found their way to the great cotton growing district of the southern Mahratta country. Now, mark the success of their mission! On the 28th of January last, 1847, the Governor in Council of Bombay addressed a circular to the several mercantile houses of that presidency, giving to the English and native gentlemen composing this large and respectable body, a detail of the government measures connected with introducing an improved system of cultivating and cleaning cotton in the southern Mahratta country, in the hope that the mercantile community would come forward and freely purchase a product, the improved quality of which would, doubtless, command a high price in the London and China markets. The governor then proceeds to detail the nature of the government measures and their results.
"They were commenced," he says "in 1843, under the superintendence of Mr. Mercer, an American cotton planter of great experience, energy and zeal, who began his farming operations at a village in the collectorate of Dharwar. In 1844, Mr. Howley was sent to the same district, and undertook the management of an experimental farm at another village." I will now quote the exact words of the governor in council of Bombay. "In 1845–46, Mr. Mercer represented to the government, that the experimental farms were only a useless expense to government; that the American system of cultivation was not adapted to India; that the natives of India were, from their knowledge of the climate and capabilities of the soil, able to cultivate better and much more economically than any European, and requested that the farms might be abolished." Such is the testimony of Mr. Mercer, as quoted by the governor in council, of Bombay. Let me now request your attention to the testimony of the British collector of revenue in the same district, who had overlooked the operations of the two American planters, and was also intimately acquainted with the agricultural habits and skill of the people, as well as with the extent and capacity of the soil. I will again give the precise words of the government circular: "The acting collector of Dharwar states, that the New Orleans cotton has been cultivated to such an extent throughout the collectorate, that its qualities are well understood by the ryots, (the native farmers,) and there will be no further necessity of government planting on its own account. There is at present sufficient seed to plant it to any extent, provided the sale of the produce is guaranteed to them." Such is the solution of the problem which the Directors of the East India Company undertook, in 1839, to solve, by sending an expedition, consisting of a captain of native infantry and ten American cotton planters to India, to introduce an improved system of cultivation, an expedition which I find, by a statement of revenue and expenditure, recently laid befare Parliament, has cost the natives of India £12,026—a sum placed under the head of "Expenses in view to the improvement of the cultivation of the cotton in India." The solution is, the natives of India are able to cultivate cotton better than any European. (Loud applause.)
"The evidence, therefore," says Mr. Brown, "on the two following points, is complete and unanswerable:—First, the printed evidence of the directors shows, that, throughout a period of nearly seventy years, from 1781 to 1836, the company held dominion over provinces in India, capable of yielding cotton in any quantity demanded by England or by the world. Second, the evidence of American planters, accidentally promulgated in India in 1847, eleven years later, proves that the natives have always had the agricultural knowledge, the skill, and the experience, to produce that cotton better and cheaper than the Americans. Yet the natives have not produced it (for our use;) on the contrary, the official evidence is clear and conclusive to the fact that, in the face of a demand which has more than centupled, the supply from India has regularly declined. The causes of this admitted decay must, therefore, be sought elsewhere than in the sterility of the soil, or the incapacity of the people." Let us, then, occupy a few moments in attempting to trace out and understand some of these causes, for it is only after a correct conception of their nature and effect that we can wisely seek to remove them, and prepare ourselves for an enlightened and determined contest with the confederacy which has originated and upheld them. I will endeavor to make this part of the subject as plain and popular as its peculiar character will admit of.
Did time permit, it would be easy to demonstrate that from the commencement of the manufacture of cotton goods in this country, the raw material might have been supplied from India, in most abundant quantities, and sold in the Liverpool market, at twopence halfpenny per pound, yielding a remunerating profit to all parties concerned. Had there, at an early period, been, I will not say encouragement, afforded to the native growers of cotton, but mere fair play, and an absence of oppression and direct obstacles, there would have been at the present time a supply sent to this country of the most abundant kind, and of a quality greatly superior to that of the insignificant amount which is obtained from India. "And what price," you may inquire, "would have satisfied the grower?" I will answer that question from authority. Mr. Robert Ricards was a member of the Council of Bombay from the year 1806 to 1811, having previously spent twenty years of his official life in various parts of western India. In 1812, that gentleman addressed a letter to the Court of Directors, in the course of which he revealed (from the company's own records,) the details of a deliberate system practised by the government of Bombay, by which the native cotton growers were deprived of one-half of their whole crop as a land-tax, and were openly plundered of the other half by the company's servants, who put their own price upon it. (Shame.) In this letter Mr. Ricards demonstrates that, while the cotton growers were under the rule of the Mahomedans, who set the example of taking half the crop, they could cultivate to profit the best description of article, while cotton was selling on the spot at rather more than 2d. per pound. Deducting half, therefore, for the land-tax, the 1d. and a fraction represented the natural price at which the best commodity could be grown. In the pamphlet before me there is also the proof furnished, in the shape of a reference to actual transactions in Bombay, in 1789, when the price of Surat cotton was rather more than 2d. per lb.; being just the same price as it was in Bombay, in 1846, nearly sixty years after. Had the grower, therefore, not to yield up to the government one-half his entire crop, he would be satisfied, as he is now virtually, with 1d., or rather more, per lb.
It is, therefore, evident, that but for the existence and chartered monopoly of the East India Company, which took the whole of the crop at its own price, and returned to the grower the proceeds of only one-half, the price at which the best Surat cotton would have freely sold in London and Liverpool, in the years 1786 to 1789, (leaving a large profit to the importer,) would have been 2 l-2d. per lb. The prices at which the East India Company sold their cotton in London, in the years 1785 to 1791, were from 11d. to 1s. 1d. per lb. Of the several kind of United States' cotton, it is that called "Upland" which compares with and is valued against Surat. In 1846, the year of the short crop, the average price paid in London and Liverpool for the three kinds of American Upland, was 5 l-2d. per lb. It is unnecessary, after a simple enumeration of these recorded facts, to say why the production of cotton in the United States dates from the year 1785, or to prove at greater length than they prove, that it was the Directors of the East India Company who in truth and in reality sowed the fields of America broadcast with the seeds, and transferred the immemorial growth of India to take permanent and gigantic root on the shores of the Atlantic. Mr. Ricards in the letter to which I have referred, also states that the freight on the Company's ships amounted, at the time he wrote to £53 6s. per ton of fifty cubic feet, and £30 a ton on the extra ships, making a freight of 7 l-2d. and 4d. respectively upon every pound of cotton imported. Even down to the year 1829, the chartered freight of the company's ships was £19 5s. per ton, equal to a charge of more than 2d. per lb. I have quoted the testimony of one member of council at Bombay; let me refer to another, Mr. Francis Warden, now a director, who, in 1832, gave evidence before a select parliamentary committee, that the money tax imposed on every candy of Surat cotton of the value of £8, was £5 16s., leaving to the grower £2 4s. for his share, or £1 2s. less than was left him by the rapacious Mussulmans. (Shame.) This tax was levied before the cotton was suffered to be removed from the field on which it was grown; for which purpose deep pits were dug, and the cotton buried in them under clods of earth, and there kept in charge of the revenue officers, until the money demanded was raised. When released and removed to the grower's hut, in its unseeded state, for the purpose of being deprived of the seed by the women and children of his family, then was an annual tax levied upon every native gin; then an annual tax upon every bow, the implement required to rid it of dry leaves and dirt; then a tax upon the loom employed in weaving it; and if required for distant consumption, whether home or foreign, a transit duty. (Shame.)
What has been said in no way completely describes the wretched condition of the native cotton grower. It must not be supposed that he obtains the difference between the price of the cotton and the money-tax levied by the government. It must never be forgotten, in order correctly to appreciate the weight of the burden laid upon him, that he is compelled to pay his land-tax before he is suffered to have possession of his own cotton, and that the only security he has to offer, in order to obtain the money from the village money-lender and cotton-trader, is the crop buried in the pits, unweighed, unseeded, uncleaned, and altogether unmerchantable. The result is that one halfpenny a pound is all that is finally realised by this unhappy subject of the British government in India. "In Guzerat," says General Briggs, taking for the basis of his calculation the evidence given before Parliament, "746 pounds of clean cotton may be raised on seven acres of land, giving 106 pounds per acre. This cotton, estimated at 2 l-2d. per pound, which is forty per cent. more than its value at Dharwar, will sell for £1 1s., from which, if we deduct 16s., we have scarcely more than twenty-five per cent. of the whole produce, to pay the expenses of cultivation, and for the return of interest on capital; while the government receives seventy-five per cent. of the whole produce as the tax. The merchants of England, it is clear, cannot look to India for cotton, while such imposts prevail." Such is the testimony of an East India officer, who has made the land-tax and its effects upon cotton-growing his study for many years. (Cheers.)
Let me now ask you to go with me to Bengal, and see how the matter stands there. Among the journals published in India, there is no one more conspicuous for the caution with which all its statements are put forth, and its reluctance to bring charges against the government, than the Friend of India, edited by John Marshman, Esq., of Serampore. From a number of that journal dated the 11th of March last, I make the following extract:—"The deficiency in the cotton crop of America, and the rise in the price of that staple of our home manufactures, has naturally turned the attention of the public to the cultivation of cotton in India, where the plant was indigenous in the days or Cæsar. Our manufacturers look to the boundless fields of India in the hope of obtaining a supply for their looms; but unfortunately they look in vain. In Bundlekund (a large division of the Allahahad province to the South of the Jumna) the supply has fallen from sixty lacks (600,000,000 lbs) to ten (or 100,000,000 lbs.) At Bombay, the cultivation has been gradually dwindling, and there is every reason to apprehend that it will shortly become extinct. The export of cotton from Bombay to China, which formerly gave employment to so large a portion of the agricultural population, and its shipping, has been gradually contracted; and unless some adequate remedy can he supplied in time, this branch of trade must shortly close altogether." (Hear, hear.) The Friend of India then goes on to give a specimen of the process by which the cultivation and export of cotton, so essential at once to the prosperity both of India and of England, is deliberately annihilated by those who administer the revenue system under the East India Company. Names, dates and official documents are quoted. "The fiscal history of the province of British Bundlekund, which is the great cotton district on this side of India, most clearly demonstrates the impolicy of over assessment. We have now before us a valuable report of the settlement of Zillah Humeerpore, by Mr. Allen and Mr. Muir, of the civil service, which supplies us with facts of the utmost value, and gives information that may he turned to the best account at the present moment. It teaches us the most important lessons. It shows how the prosperity of a district may he blighted, and half a million of its inhabitants reduced to absolute destitution, in the shortest period of time. It tells us how a single collector may ruin, not only the condition but the prospects of a district, depopulate its villages, and convert its smiling fields into barren wastes.
Our rule commenced there in 1806, and for the first ten years our fiscal administration was just and equitable.
"The forbearance and happy arrangements of government appear to have had their full effect in developing the resources of the country." The Zemindars (the land owners) were in a flourishing condition; their tenantry satisfied and happy, and the district which had formerly been a scene of uninterrupted devastation, or predatory incursions, presented a picture of industry and contentment. In the year 1816, a year ever memorable in the annals of that unfortunate province, Mr. Scott Waring, the collector, took charge of it, and formed a new settlement of the rent (government tax.) In the western districts he raised the assessment thirty, and in the eastern districts, no less than forty-six per cent! The result of this oppressive exaction in the eastern division soon became apparent in the ruin of the Zemindars, the destitution of the poor ryots (the cultivators,) and the desolation of the province. Of the total number of villages, amounting to 621, only 139 were preserved by the original landholders. Of 137 villages brought to sale during this period, assessed at two lakhs and thirty thousand rupees (£23,000) no less than sixty-one were purchased by government, because there were no bidders at all; while the remaining seventy-six, which were sold to other parties, realized only thirty-nine thousand rupees (£3,900) or about four months' rent! Every man of substance who agreed to take the villages, on the recusancy of the Zemindars, became a beggar. Such was the result in the eastern district, of Mr. Waring's exertions at the revenue screw. In the western districts, the proprietors of 178 villages threw up their lands rather than agree to his exhorbitant demands. "It would be useless to recount," says Mr. Muir, "the sickening detail of absconding Zemindars, who, according to Mr. Waring, fled only because the real value of their estates was beginning to come to light, or of desolated villages, whose lands it was said were thrown out of cultivation merely to produce a decrease of assessment. No one who has not toiled through the details of each village can conceive the extent of alienation of property or the misery attendant on the depopulation of villages, the ruin of estates, and the disruption of society which have prevailed in this unhappy country.
Misfortunes seldom come single. After Mr. Waring, whose name is never mentioned in Bundlekund without a malediction, and is ordinarily used like that of an ogre, by mothers to frighten disobedient children, came Mr. W. H. Valpy, who entered into his views with increased ardor and gave another hearty turn to the revenue screw. Then came the gradual discontinuance of the company's advances for cotton, which had formerly exceeded the revenue of the province, and finally the calamitous seasons of 1830, 1834, and 1838. The hand of man had been succeeded by visitations of Providence, and the country was reduced to the lowest state of desolation, when the new settlement, which had given such just renown to the name of Robert Mertins Bird, was undertaken and completed. But it is easier to ruin than to revive a province. Five years of over assessment had produced that prostration of agricultural resources, which twenty years of moderation could not restore. The settlement officers, in every instance, made large reductions in rent, in the hope of reviving the prosperity of the ruined district; and in reference to the more immediate object of this article, reduced the rent-tax of the soil on which the cotton is raised, to a sum varying from eight annas to one rupee a bigah—that is on an average, to about one third of the assessment, which the Englishman describes as prevailing in the Broach. But it is found impossible now to realize the same amount of revenue which was obtained so freely before the calamitous advent of Mr. Waring. It is to be hoped therefore that the lesson thus taught us, that over assessment invariably defeats its own object, and destroys the prospects of the exchequer for a long period of time, will not be lost on us.
To the Committee now said to be sitting at Bombay, we particularly recommend the following from Muir's report:
"Had we been contented with the revenue of 1815,and been solicitous only to equalize it, the district would, without doubt, have continued to flourish; extent of cultivation would have kept pace with the increase of capital and inhabitants, and the concomitant advantages of trade and commerce would have added to the riches of the country, and to its strength for withstanding the attacks of famine. Our income, if not directly increased, certainly would not have fallen off, and would thus have been, at the least, twenty per cent. greater that the impoverished land, denuded in many quarters of its population, can now possibly yield." Let me afford you one more glance into the reasons why the natives of India, under the East India Company's rule, do not cultivate produce for this country. Mr. Thomas Williamson, late revenue commissioner at Bombay, in a letter dated 1846, addressed to Lord Wharncliffe, as Chairman of the Great India Peninsular Railway Company, tells his lordship, that besides the land which produces cotton at present, there is a vast extent of waste land capable of producing the article, and that a very slight degree of encouragement would be sufficient to attract cultivators supplied with such scanty means as are there sufficient for tillage, and that they would greedily accept the terms which would be deemed hard by the enterprising farmers in England. Well, this same Mr. Williamson, when superintending these very districts, granted to the natives leases of waste land, free from tax for a few years, for the express purpose of cultivating upon it cotton and the Mauritius sugar-cane. The last, to attain perfection, requires to be manured and irrigated and consequently demands a considerable preliminary outlay. The natives joyfully accepted the leases, and set to work with the utmost alacrity and industry. What did the Directors of the East India Company do on hearing of this wise and prudent measure? The official gazette shall answer for them:
Bombay Government Gazette,
20th June, 1838.
"The Honorable the Court of Directors, having been pleased to disapprove of the notifications of the 24th February and 1st August, 1835, and of the 1st and 17th November, 1836, issued under authority of Government, by the Revenue Commissioner, granting certain exemptions from assessment (land-tax) to land cultivated with cotton and the Mauritius sugar cane, and to direct that such notifications be immediately recalled; the Right Honorable the Governor is pleased hereby to cancel the said notifications from this date." (Loud expressions of indignation.)
In conformity with this peremptory order, leases of waste land, granted nearby four years before by the authority of the Governor and Council of Bombay, and upon the faith of which the lessees had borrowed and spent their all, were cancelled at a moment's warning, the lessess were turned out of possession without the smallest compensation of the least redress, and most of them, as well as the persons who had advanced money to them on the security of the government leases, ruined for the remainder of their lives. This was done in 1838, and in 1840 the directors of the East India Company sent to the United States for ten American planters for the purpose of teaching these beggared and ruined natives how to grow cotton.
Let me now show you what the pecuniary result of this system has been as respects the prices paid for cotton by the manufacturers of this country. It has been before observed that the average price of the three kinds of American Uplands in the markets of the United Kingdom during the dear year of 1846 was 5 l-2d. per pound. The evidence adduced proves undeniably that, from the year 1785 down to the present time, the grower of Surat cotton would have been satisfied on the spot with the price of 1d. per pound, if freed from the company's preliminary land-tax of 1 l-2d. per pound, and liberated from all interference of the revenue officers. "My own knowledge," says Mr. Brown, "but especially my late father's personal and practical experience through more than half a century, lead me to affirm that a price of 1d. to 1 l-2d. per pound, paid to the native growers, free from tax, would have been remuneration sufficient to have secured from them the production of any quantity of cotton which the wants of England have required during the last sixty years. All the enquiries I have made lead me to the conviction that the same price would have paid the grower in every province in India, where the company found cotton to be a staple culture. Adding 1d. per pound for transport and the profit of the importer, a price of 2 l-2d. to 3d. per pound is the natural price at which, but for the tax and the interference of the company, good East India cotton would have been laid down in London and Liverpool. What the profit of the English manufactures would have been by having the command of the staple at this medium price, they themselves best know. But taking the price paid by the manufacturers for every description of United States cotton in the year 1846 at no more than the average price paid for "Uplands," namely, 5 l-2d. per lb. it is clear that they paid to the American 2 l-2d. per lb. more than the natural price of cotton, if the growth and the trade in India had been, as in the United States, perfectly free. Upon the total quantity received from the United States, this sum amounts to £5,236,252.—This was the excess of price they paid last year. But this year, owing to the short crop in the United States, the consequent rise in every market, the scarcity of food throughout Europe, and the demand for tonnage in the United States for the purpose of shipping every pound of spare food to where food was at famine prices,—in consequence of these concurrent visitations, it is computed by the Economist that the manufacturers will have to pay from four to five millions sterling more to the Americans for the short supply of the present year, than for the more abundant one of last. Their American cotton account for the two years will therefore stand thus:—
| 1846.—Ordinary enchanced price paid above natural price of East India cotton | £5,236,252 | |
| 1847.—Dittoditto | 5,236,252 | |
| Extraordinary enhanced price over 1846, | 4,500,000 | |
| Excess of price paid in two years to the United States tor cotton, | £14,972,504. | |
Do the losses of the manufacturers end even at this point? It would be a very superficial examination of the subject which should lead to any such conclusion. This sacrifice is only the beginning of what they have to suffer. In consequence of the high price of food everywhere, and the absorption of the national capital as well as of the profits and wages of individuals in the purchase of dear food, the price of manufactured goods, instead of keeping pace with the rise in the price of cotton, has sunk much below this level, from the falling off of the usual demand at home and abroad. Manufacturers are compelled to hold and lock up their capital, or to sell at a loss in order to keep their mills working half time. The United States' merchant, gorged with English gold exported to pay for his corn and cotton, keeps aloof until manufactured goods have still further sunk to the point at which it is more profitable to him to import goods than to receive gold. He then enters the market, and it is by means of his purchases, made at the lowest point of depression, that the drain of gold is stopped; or, in other words, it is by the sacrifice of the accumulated industry and hard-earned property of the manufacturers that the exchanges are ultimately restored, the derangement of commerce remedied, and the nation's calamity arrested. It is manifest, therefore, that it would be better for the manufacturers to ask the East India Company to accept five millions, subscribed amongst themselves, and in return suffer the natives of India to grow cotton, free of land-tax, for the people of this country, than to carry on their operations under the existing system. Five millions so given in 1845 would have saved nearly fifteen. Mr. Brown eloquently concludes his remarks on this subject by inquiring:—"What has created and produced the cotton of the United States? What, at the same time, has cleared its wastes, attracted its immigrants, sextupled its population, peopled its towns, founded its manufactures, built its ships, created its navy, fed its trade, furnished its revenue, found scope for all its energies, and last, though, unhappily, not the least, perpetuated, with the foreign slave-trade, its own domestic slavery? It is not more abundant land than England has possessed in India, nor a more fertile soil, nor a more genial climate, nor cheaper labor, nor more millions of peaceable, industrious subjects; nor is it any decline in the native vigor and persevering enterprise of Englishmen, when left unfettered and un-domineered over, to exert their free scope in guiding and governing men and subduing nature, under the spirit and the ægis of their parent laws and institutions. Since it is undeniably not one of these superior advantages, which is the cause of the striking and different results exhibited by men of the same race, during the same period of time, in India and in the United States, I trust it is impossible that the reason of Englishmen, or the piety of the nation, will suffer the curse of barrenness with which India has been fatally stricken, or the poverty in which its people are steeped, to be longer laid, by the deception of speech and the studied concealment of facts, to the account of the will of Providence and the ordinances of God."
I have now endeavored to show the bearing of this question upon England and upon India, and to point out some of the causes of the non-importation of cotton from India. It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the anti-slavery view of the subject, for you must be before-hand with me. I will, however, venture to ask your attention to the views entertained by certain parties. What say the Southern Americans, speaking through the press of New Orleans? "By the blessing of heaven, the Southern planter is enabled to raise the noblest weed that was ever given for the comfort of the human family—a weed, destined to make a new era in modern commerce, if those who raise it have spirit and virtue enough to scorn and defy the banking and speculative quacks of the day. I have no idea that the slave-holding race could maintain their liberty or independence for five years without cotton. It is that which gives us our energy, our enterprise, our intelligence! and commands the respect of foreign powers. The Egyptian may look with devotion to his Nile, as the source of the power and wealth of Egypt; the pilgrim and inhabitant of the Holy Land may bathe in the sacred Jordon, and take comfort from the belief that he has washed away his sins—the Hindoo may worship the Lotus, under an idea that Vishnu created Brahma from its unfolded flowers; but a genuine slave-holder in South Carolina will ever look with reverence to the cotton plant, as the source of his power and his liberty. All the parchments upon earth could never protect him from the grasping avarice and financial fury of modern society. If he expects to preserve the peculiar institutions of his country, and transmit them to posterity, he must teach his children to hold the cotton plant in one hand, and the sword in the other, ever ready to defend it." What say the abolitionists of the United States?—"Cotton is now the great anti-abolition influence of this country. In whatever shape opposition to the cause of emancipation manifests itself—whether in the Church or State—in a mercantile or ecclesiastical association—it may be traced directly back to the cotton-bale. Were English and French manufacturers supplied with Indian or Egyptian cotton, the demand for slaves from Virginia and Maryland would cease—the growers of men and women for the cotton planting region would find no market for their human staple—and as a consequence, slavery would be unprofitable, and, as another consequence, Virginia statesmen would begin to believe with Thomas Jefferson, 'that all men are created equal;' the Virginia divines would very soon discover that slavery is incompatible with genuine Presbyterianism, whether of the old or new school. Slavery now lies entrenched behind its cotton bags—like General Jackson at New Orleans; and the efforts of the British or even American abolitionists to dislodge it by moral suasion, we fear will prove as ineffectual as those of General Packenham, to force the cotton barricades of the American camp, on the 8th January, 1815. We call then upon the abolitionists of Great Britain, to urge their government to foster and promote, to the extent of its power, the cultivation of cotton in the Indies. By so doing they will promote the interest of their own country—they will confer an incalculable benefit upon ours—they will lift the crushed millions of India from their degradation—and strike off the chains from three millions of American slaves. We confess that one of our main reliances, under God, for the bloodless termination of American slavery, is the increase of cotton cultivation in the peninsula of British India."
What were the words of the venerable Clarkson, written down to be delivered at the opening of the World's Convention for the abolition of slavery, held in 1840. "How, then," he says, "can you get at these (American planters) so as to influence their conduct. There is but one way; you must endeavor to make them feel their guilt in its consequences. You must endeavor by all justifiable means to affect their temporal interests. You must endeavor among other things, to have the produce of free tropical labor brought into the markets of Europe, and undersell them there, and if you can do this, your victory is sure. Now, that this is possible, that this may be done, there is no question. The East India Company alone can do it of themselves, and they can do it by means that are perfectly moral and pacific, according to your own principles, namely: by the cultivation of the earth and by the employment of free labor. They may, if they please, not only have the high honor of abolishing slavery and the slave trade, but the advantage of increasing their revenue beyond all calculation; for, in the first place, they have land in their possession twenty times more than equal to the supply of all Europe with tropical produce; in the second place, they can procure, not tens of thousands, but tens of millions of free laborers to work; in the third, what is of the greatest consequence in this case, the price of labor with these is only from a penny to three-halfpence per day. What slavery can stand against these prices? And here I would observe, that this is not a visionary or fanciful statement. Look at the American newspapers: look at the American pamphlets which have come out upon this subject; look at the opinion of the celebrated Judge Jay on this subject also; all, all, confess, and the planters, too, confess—but the latter with fear and trembling—that if the East India Company should resolve upon the cultivation of tropical products in India, and carry it to the extent to which they would be capable of carrying them—it is all over with American slavery."
At the risk of wearying you, I have laid my views before you at considerable length, and you may now perceive the nature of the objects to which I desire to devote myself (loud cheers.) Is it not a glorious goal after which I am reaching? (cheers.) Long, long have I looked to India with emotions which God alone has penetrated. The study of that country, in the history of its people, the capacity of its soil, its subjugation by England, and its future destinies, has been the passion of the last eight years of my life. Long, long ago I made a vow that I would live for that benefit of that country (loud cheers.) Have I your permission to redeem that vow? (long continued cheers.) But, let me tell you, I did not make that vow until I clearly perceived that he who labored for the good of India, was at the same time the truest and wisest friend of his own country, and the most efficient promoter of the extinction of slavery and the slave-trade (cheers.) Have I not shown you that "justice to India" is "prosperity to England" and "freedom to the slave?" (applause.) This was the motto I chose for a small newspaper I started on the 1st of January, 1841. It is my motto still. Will you adopt it? (cheers.) Well then, as I told you at the time I was a candidate for your suffrages, I shall be ever ready, by an honest vote, to support every good and sound measure, without reference to party; and I shall have no objection to speak a word on a subject I understand, unless, as is often the case, it should be superior wisdom to remain silent (cheers.) The question I have brought before you this evening, however, is that to which I wish you to grant me permission to devote myself; and that you might to some extent have an enlightened opinion respecting its merits, its magnitude, and its importance; I have delivered the address now brought to a close. Let me then ask you if you participate in my views regarding the vital importance of this question to the interest and happiness both of the people of this country and of India? (loud cheers.) Have I your sanction to give myself to the advocacy of this question? (renewed cheers.) Will you support me while I am humbly and honestly engaged in calling the attention of the country and the legislature to it? (great applause.) Will you allow me henceforth to say, that as far as you are concerned, my constituents are co-laborers with me on the question? (loud cheers, which lasted for a considerable time.) Enough. We understand one another. You have encouraged me on the threshold of this great work. In making the claims of India henceforth the peculiar object of my labors in parliament and throughout England, I shall have the firmest persuasion that I am acting in conformity with the best interests of my native country and the just rights of our conquered fellow subjects, and of the enslaved throughout the world. I shall now submit the following resolution. I think I have sustained every clause of it, save that which refers to the natives of India as customers for our manufactures; but it must be self-evident that it we improve the condition of 150,000,000 of men, we must of necessity increase their wants, and consequently open a vast market for our own manufactured products. In another address I will abundantly demonstrate this. With these remarks I shall read the resolution, which I do not doubt, from the manner in which you have responded to what has been said, will receive your cordial approval (loud cheers.)
"1. That it has been demonstated to this meeting, that India, a vast British possession, peopled by millions of peaceable, intelligent, and civilized British subjects has been gifted by nature with the capacity of producing every tropical raw commodity, which the capital and industry of England require for the constant and profitable employment of her population, or for the supply of any of their other wants.
"That it has been further demonstrated, that England, although the mistress of such a possession as British India, is rendered year by year more dependent for the supply of raw cotton, winch is the staple of her principal manufacture, and one of the main supports of the public revenue, upon the United States of America, a foreign country; and that England is also dependent upon the same country for the supply of the tobacco demanded by her population—both the cotton and the tobacco of the United States being the produce of slave labor.
"That consequently, the domestic peace and prosperity of this country; and the stability of a large portion of the public revenue, are made dependent,—First, upon the vicissitudes of the seasons, to which the cotton and tobacco plants, in common with all other productions of any other country, are liable;—Secondly, upon the maintenance of amicable relations between this country and the United States, and between the United States and other countries;—Thirdly, Upon the continuance of the submission of the numerous, increasing, and oppressed slave population of the United States of America.
"That this exclusive, unnecessary, and unnatural dependence—perpetuating as it does the slavery of millions of men—is the source, to a great extent, as is now experienced, of existing calamities, and manifestly pregnant with future evils to the best interests of England.
"That the free agricultural population of British India would be the natural customers of this country, in the exact measure that they would, if permitted, become the producers of commodities for the wants of England: that it has been clearly shown, that these intelligent and deserving British subjects are rendered incapable of becoming the nation's customers and producers, and of competing with the produce of the slave-states, by reason of the burthens imposed upon their soil and industry, and by the impediment of unwise restrictions placed upon their home and external trade:—
"Therefore. Resolved,—That it is the duty of the people of England, for the sake alike of England, of India, and of the enslaved throughout the world, to require from the Legislature the immediate removal of all imports which depress the agricutural energies and impede the commerce of the native population, and also the institution of a strict and impartial inquiry, in India, into the condition of the natives, and into the conduct and the acts arising out of the peculiar government ruling over them, which affect their well-being and retard they prosperity."
Lafayette on Slavery—The opinion of this great man, whom every American reveres and honors, on the subject of slavery, has but recently been made known to the world. The great philanthropist, Clarkson, says of him, that "his amiable nature was specially aroused on this subject." To Clarkson, Lafayette said expressly, "I would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding A LAND OF SLAVERY."—Cleveland Democrat.