Page:Liberator (September 18, 1857).pdf/4



How far, probably, does God act upon the advice which men disinterestedly give him (for their own purposes) in relation to his management of the world?

A writer in the Old Testament informs us that Jehovah once confided to Moses a plan which he had formed in relation to the children of Israel; that Moses, seeing certain disadvantages in that plan, remonstrated against it; and that Jehovah, thereupon, repented of his original purpose, and took a different course.

Teachers of religion must often find the question coming practically before them for decision, whether they will maintain the perfect wisdom and justice of God, or the correct information of some one of the forty or fifty writers of the Old and New Testaments, when these two come in conflict.

They must sometimes also be asked whether God will probably comply with requests that may be made to Him at the present day, for more or less rain or sunshine than he has originally decided to provide, when the farmers of a particular locality think that He is giving them too much or too little.

It appears by the Honolulu Friend, that a similar question has lately been considered among the missionaries at the Sandwich Islands. After the subsidence of a volcanic eruption, which for a long time had threatened the people of one of those islands, the Rev. T Coan, of Hilo, read an essay before the ‘Hawaiian Evangelical Association,’ with the following title: ‘Is it proper to hold up the idea before the Hawaiians, that the lava-flow toward Hilo ceased in answer to prayer?’

It is certainly important that those who assume to teach Christianity to the heathen should make it clear to them, not only that the true God is wise and good, but that he is so wise and so good as not to need guidance or suggestion from His creatures in either of these departments; and, further, that, if heat and cold, sun, wind and rain, should be modified at the request of every farmer’s minister who thought a change desirable, we should probably have more variable weather than at present, with a much less perfect accomplishment of the general welfare.—

This Convention at Worcester, though not so numerously attended from abroad as was expected, was united, enthusiastic, and large enough to indicate a strong interest. I believe that Mr. Banks will be elected, through the strong desire of decent men to be rid of Gov. Gardner, and to unite on a tolerable representative of average Massachusetts sentiment. It is a genuine movement, and includes a wide range of elements. The combination of extremes in the Convention was very marked. The self-congratulation of some Boston men that there are ‘no extremists in the party,’ is amusing, in view of the prominence of those eminently law-abiding men (in fugitive slave cases) S. P. Hanscom, John L. Swift, and Judge Russell! In this city, moreover, great pains were taken to include among the delegates some of the leaders in the Disunion Convention, such men as Thomas Earle and S. D. Tourtellotte;—a significant circumstance.

In fact, at the preliminary meeting of the Convention which nominated Banks, in the principal speech made in his behalf, it was stated, as one of the chief proofs of his anti-slavery sincerity, that he had offered to ‘let the Union slide.’ And this was received with applause!

Thus, I doubt not, many strong anti-slavery men will support Banks, without any personal faith in his reliability. Between his election and Gardner’s, it is the old question between half a loaf and no bread. Look only at to-day, and the half loaf conquers. But if there is reason to hope, that by holding out till to-morrow (and not otherwise) the whole loaf may be obtained, it may be better to starve a few hours longer. This is, in a nutshell, the whole philosophy of third parties.

Another point, however, comes in. The moral offset to the advantage of having a decent party in power is, that it is a worse evil to have a bad thing done by a decent man than by a scoundrel. Let a fugitive slave case occur in Boston, (and the number of fugitives among us is increasing rapidly, thank God!)—it is plain what the State Executive will do. Gardner or Banks, no matter,—the Governor will sustain the United States laws, order out the muskets, and shoot down Charles Sumner himself, if he lifts a finger of resistance. The difference is, that the act which Republicans will curse, if done by Gardner, they will applaud, if done by Banks. And while Gardner would do the act with open villany, Banks would disguise it with such skilful words as would have almost vindicated the Stamp Act or Boston Massacre.

For these reasons, I can see nothing to be gained, by anti-slavery voters, through the support of Mr. Banks. To intrigue with Gardnerites or Buchananites against him, is utterly unjustifiable,—and yet there may be, I am sorry to say, some who will do this. But to honestly support an anti-slavery man, is worth risking the election of Gardner for.

Worcester, Sept,. [sic] 11, 1857.

After the adjournment of the Binghamton Convention, I visited Windsor, a village fifteen miles from the New York and Erie Railway, and lectured on Saturday and Sunday. Our friends there think that my presence in the place at that time was opportune, for I found the Rev. Mr. Avery, of Syracuse, a superannuated clergyman, an agent of the American Colonization Society, advertised to lecture in the Presbyterian church on Sunday. It had been many years since I had listened to a discourse on that subject, and felt no little interest to know what kind of a dress our old enemy would appear in. Having no meeting myself at the hour when the Colonizationist was to speak, I went in and heard him. He spoke of the formation of the Society, and its objects being approved by Thomas Clarkson and other philanthropists, and especially by the colored people of Philadelphia and Boston. He called the Society the black man’s friend; said it presented to the poor injured sons and daughters of Africa an asylum in their own native land; that they could never be respected in America. A gentleman in Virginia had liberated three lots of slaves. Lot No. 1 he settled on a farm near him; lot No. 2 he sent to Philadelphia; and lot No. 3 was sent to Liberia. Of course, those in Virginia and Philadelphia were indolent, and failed to make a living; while the lot forwarded to Africa had flourished ‘like a green bay tree.’ ‘No,’ said he, ‘the black man cannot thrive in this country.’

He did not mention the fact that the Society was under the patronage of the South; that was kept from the audience for many reasons. The lecture was endorsed by the minister of the church, and an appeal made for funds in aid of ‘the good cause.’ How large the contribution was I did not learn, but one man was seen to put in five dollars.

At five o’clock, I held a meeting in the Methodist church, their minister having gone to the camp-meeting. My audience was very much larger than attended the Colonization lecture, and I never had a more attentive hearing. I took up the Colonization Society, and showed that it was the enemy of the colored people, bond and free; that it was supported by slave-holders and pro-slavery people; that it created and kept up prejudice against the free colored people; and informed the audience that Thomas Clarkson and all other friends of freedom had condemned the course and aims of the Society, and especially had it been repudiated by the colored people of Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities in the United States.

I brought before them the startling fact, that at the instigation of the Colonization Society of Maryland, the Legislature of that State had imposed a tax of one dollar upon the head of every free colored person in the State, and those who could not pay the tax were to be sold into slavery; that the enormous sum of $50,000 had been wrung from the poor defenceless free colored population of Maryland, to aid the Society whose agent had spoken to them that day.

The Presbyterian minister was present, and seemed not a little surprised at the revelations I made. Our old enemy is silently at work out here, and we must meet him. We ought to have a tract on Colonization. Our friends in Windsor regretted that I did not have such a tract with me.

This is, indeed, a glorious field for labor. Many of the people have never heard even the first principles of anti-slavery. But the agents must look to other sources for support. Our collections are magnificently small. All the money contributed at the Windsor meeting might have been put in one corner of a Lilliputian’s vest pocket, without attracting any attention. Truth seldom brings money. However, I found a hearty welcome at the home of Mr. Lambert Sanford, which I prized the more highly, being in such a dark region.

The Convention at Owego, though not numerously attended, left a good impression. Several copies of ‘The Pro-Slavery Compromises of the Constitution’ were taken by persons who will no doubt do good service with them. Subscribers were also obtained for the Standard.

Many of our readers will remember Paul Cuffe, who formerly transacted business in this city, some account of whom was given in this paper a year or two ago. He was a colored man, but possessed much ability for conducting business, and was highly respected. A correspondent of the Fall River News gives the following incident, which occurred at a time when a white President was not ashamed nor afraid to acknowledge and enforce the rights of his colored fellow-men.—New Bedford Standard.

In person, Paul Cuffe was tall, well formed, and athletic; his deportment conciliating, yet dignified and prepossessing; his countenance blending gravity with modesty and sweetness, and firmness with gentleness and humanity; in speech and habit he was plain and unostentatious.

When he was prevented from going abroad, as usual, in the pursuit of his business, on account of the rigors of the winter, he often devoted a considerable portion of his time to teaching navigation to his own sons, and to others in the neighborhood of his residence; and even on his voyages, when opportunities occurred, he employed himself in imparting a knowledge of this invaluable science to those under him; so that he had the honor of training up, both among the white and colored population, a considerable number of skilful navigators.

By petitions and other proceedings, Paul Cuffe was mainly instrumental in securing the elective franchise to the colored citizens of Massachusetts. The history of this movement, with interesting details of Paul Cuffe and many other distinguished individuals, may be found in W. C. Nell’s book, ‘The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution.’

It appears that not only did negroes ‘do the State some service’ at the battle of Bunker Hill, but that they were held in much better esteem in the continental army than some, at least, of their white brethren in arms from the Southern States.

The following striking language is found in a letter written in Massachusetts, by General John Thomas, to John Adams, under date of 24th October, 1775:

The said letter is in the hands of the descendants of Gen. Thomas.

The injustice of the Dred Scott decision could no doubt be further shown by similar testimony of revlutionary times. The men, the citizens, who fought to achieve our freedom, are now regarded by a majority of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States as things, chattels, and possessing no political right to become citizens 2em

A boy, named West, living in Swansey, picked up a piece of cigar, and, putting it in a pipe, smoked it. As a consequence, he was taken suddenly ill, and died in a few hours. 2em

of fine boys, (inducing a dangerous precocity, developing the passions, softening the bones, and injuring the spinal marrow and whole nervous fluid.) A boy who early and freely uses tobacco never is known to make a man, in the true sense; he generally lacks energy of body and mind. Boys, if you wish to be anybody,, name and thing. 2em

‘Can’t I do what I please with my money, sir?’ ‘Of course you can, sir..’ [sic] Anybody can be as big a fool as he pleases.

are the annoyance of modesty—the spoiler of civility—the destroyer of reason—the brewer’s agent—the wife’s sorrow—the chidren’schildren’s [sic] transmitted curse—and ‘Satan’s seed corn.’ 2em

A Good Disinfectant! A pert girl said to a venerable lady, ‘I am told, madam, you have lost one of your five senses, by snuff-taking—that of smell.’ ‘True, my dear,’ said the old crone, with a smile, ‘but there are advantages in that; for, as I smell nothing, I avoid all bad smells.’

It aids Virility, or makes Boys Men!—Said a man to little boy, strutting up Cornhill, with a cigar, before breakfast, ‘My boy, you would look better with bread and butter in your mouth, than with his cigar.’ ‘I know it,’ said the urchin, ‘but it would not be half so glorious!’

‘My father’s house,’ said a man, on hearing a lecture on the evils of tobacco, ‘was destroyed by fire which fell from his pipe; a fact well known at the time. And this audience,’ he continued ‘are familiar with a dreadful fire, of more recent occurrence, in our South village—a fire which sprang from the same vile habit, and consumed nearly fifty thousand dollars’ worth of property.’

A church in Chicago, which cost some thirty thousand dollars, was laid in ashes by the same cause. A carpenter went upon its roof with his pipe, and in an hour after he came down, the upper portion of the noble edifice was wrapt in flames beyond control.

Religion bids you to be cleanly and gentlemanly in demeanor. But, tell me, is the common use of tobacco a cleanly and becoming practice? it, and it makes your nose a mere dust-pan; it, and it soils your lips and teeth, and makes your month a nauseous distillery;  it, and it pollutes flesh and breath, earth and air; makes the chest a sort of volcano, and the mouth a crater venting smoke and fire. Is this gentlemanly or decent? When Gouverneur Morris returned from France, a Doctor of Divinity, notorious as a smoker, said to him, ‘Mr. Morris, do gentlemen smoke in Paris?’ ‘Gentlemen,’ said Mr. Morris, ‘Gentlemen, Doctor, smoke nowhere!’

Religion bids you, as a steward of God, to make a proper use of money. Your habit is expensive, and worse than useless. If you are well, this poison can do you no good; hence, every cent you spend for it is a waste which dishonors God; it is ‘money for that which is not bread.’ If you have used it for some time, a child can show you that you have sqanderedsquandered [sic] an enormous amount of money—money needed to raise drooping hearts, and to fill the world with light and love.

Complaint having been made against one Sarah Sands for keeping a disorderly house in Eleventh street, Justice Wood issued a warrant, and Captain J. W. Hartt, of the seventeenth precinct, with a posse of officers, last night proceeded to arrest the inmates. The house has a spacious yard, decorated with flowers, and presents a fine external appearance. It has long borne the reputation of a house of assignation of the higher order.

The captain entered with his warrant, and made a clear sweep, arresting the keeper and every person on the premises, twenty-one in all. He was not a little surprised to find several members of the church to which he belongs, with whom he has long partaken the sacrament, as well as others whose reputation in the community has heretofore been regarded as irreproachable, among them.

The greatest consternation prevailed when these visitors suddenly found themselves in the hands of the officers of the law. They begged and pleaded with the greatest earnestness to be allowed to escape, offering every imaginable excuse for their presence. One man declared that if he were to be exposed, it would ruin his family and kill his wife, who was in feeble health at home. But the captain was inexorable, and allowed none to escape upon any plea.

There was soon a great fluttering among certain outside parties, who, for some reason known to themselves if not to others, took extraordinary interest in the affair, and used their utmost endeavor to get the parties clear. It is said that a man who figures largely in the affairs of our city, and whose voice is potent in the sacred precincts of Tammany, with one of Mayor Wood’s old police captains, took an active part in the proceedings, and pleaded the cause of the most prominent of the prisoners. It is even said that they went or sent some one after Justice Wood, to open the prison doors.

However this may be, Justice Wood made his appearance about 2 o’clock this morning, and the three or four for whom these men are said to have especially interested themselves were forthwith discharged, and allowed to go home to their families. Others appeared in behalf of unfortunate friends, and the Justice finally discharged all the men before going home, while the keeper and some of the girls were committed for examination.

Captain Hartt, in his return, says: ‘The scene that presented itself, on entering the house, almost beggared description. There were seen girls scarcely out of their teens, and men whose heads are beginning to whiten with the frosts of time, imploring to be saved from exposure for their families’ sake—a sad and melancholy commentary upon the morals of our city. The anguish and confusion of face exhibited by many were sufficient to move the stoutest heart, and formed an impressive lesson of the truth of the saying, “The way of the transgressor is hard.” ’

The parties arrested all gave fictitious names. Several were known to the officers as men of wealth and high social position.—N. Y. Evening Post.

The Boston Courier talks sense and spirit in the remarks below. The whole system of education in America ought to be radically reformed of the following gross errors. First, treating children as solid intellect, and destitute either of bodies or moral natures, thus neglecting gymnastics, on one side, and heart-culture and conscience-culture on the other. Next, pampering a fond and foolish ambition for stars, garters, prizes, and titles, instead of appealing to the natural love of knowledge, virtue and the unforced competition of social life. Then separating the sexes after the monastic fashion, and putting boys in one pen and girls in another, as if they were wild beasts, and would devour each other. And, finally, driving this whole process of education at so fierce and Jehu-like a speed as to make what Providence designed should be a healthful and happy gradual growth, (as much as of the body,) a distressing nightmare of equations, declensions, and conjugations. Education in colleges and schools, as at present conducted, is death on the scholars, death on the teachers, and especially death on young girls. Have not victims enough been sacrificed to this modern Moloch? Will not, cannot parents, teachers, and our grave and reverend seignors who hold the helm of affairs, be persuaded to reform these notorious and deadly evils? But we must not forget our extract from the Courier, for the same remarks are applicable to the schools of New York in general, and all our great cities, and to our colleges, as well as to the Boston schools. In this sense, they are a disgrace to the nineteenth or any other century:—

The mob still rages. The court came on. The Judge of that county (Rockcastle) threw his influence on the side of the mob, gave up his court-house to them and the Slave Power to pass resolutions against us. The party, as we suppose, have burned down the house rented of bro. Parker, [where meetings have been held since the meeting-house was burned, and where Mr. Fee was lately mobbed,] during his absence from home, at night, and the family (wife and four small children) narrowly escaped, saving but little. The friends at Cummins’s are alarmed for their property and persons. Quite a number of men, last week, at court, swore publicly that they would take my life. The friends at Green’s and at Cummins’s have refused to open their houses for the present, much as they desire to hear me. I had started last Monday to go and see the people around Green’s, and get them quietly to go to meeting. I found that the Grand Jury had risen without any presentment, the mob was not restrained, the people are not willing to open the house. The posts of danger are now closed to me. I trust that there will be a re-action soon. The flame is fed in Rockcastle by a clan of Southern (South Carolina) boarders, gamblers and ruffians, who come up every season. These encourage and treat to whiskey a reckless class, who are cats-paws for others.

The address which I published has been read with great avidity, and many persons say it has done much good.

We had a very encouraging meeting last Saturday at the Glade. Good resolutions were passed against mob law, in favor of liberty of speech and press, and several excellent speeches were made. I think most of the friends will stand firm. One man, who is a pro-slavery man, but a personal friend of mine, and who went in search of my person while I was supposed to be in the hands of the mob, was yesterday surrounded by the mobocrats at Mount Vernon. I have not yet heard the result. It is thought that this will turn the violence into the slaveholding party. I go to help a Baptist minister next week. The ministry ought to be visited. I have had my mind drawn for months to this subject. I feel that prayer has been heard for us.

My condition is at present perilous, and my wife is almost overcome with anxiety about it. I am worn down with continued riding, am not vigorous in health, and am pressed with care, but have the rest of faith. I hope that God is my friend, and will overrule all for good, and give me wisdom and grace. Pray for me.

That base Irish apostate,, has issued proposals for the publication of a Southern journal, in which he intends to advocate the renewal of the foreign slave trade, as a most beneficent enterprise! The New York Tribune satirically says:—



HIS School opens on the 1st of October, and closes on the 21st of July. The School consists of four quarters, of ten weeks each. There are three vacations—a week at Christmas, a week at the end of the third quarter, aa week [sic] from the close of the School year to the 1st of October.

The general design of this School is to combine the advantages of home nurture, in physical, mental, and moral training, with instruction in Literature, Science and Art.

The definite aim is to teach, first, the branches necessary for the prosecution of those general duties of life which none can escape; then the Sciences of Nature, Intellectual and Material; the usual Ancient and Modern Languages; History, Drawing, Painting and Music.

The intellectual and moral training and instruction of the pupils is conducted, and their out-of-school life, amusements and general behavior regulated by the Principal, assisted by competent teachers.

When the mind receives its appropriate nutriment, at the natural crises of its intellectual appetites, every artificial stimulus is a hindrance to true development. Such incentives, by exciting to unnatural action, not only defeat, in the end, their own object, but reäct, with distorting force, upon the whole mind and character.

Since there is in the constitution of the sexes a law of incessant reciprocal action, involving the highest weal of both, that public sentiment which restricts each sex to schools exclusive of the other, subverts the Divine order, and robs development of a ministration essential to its best conditions and highest results. In testimony to this truth, we institute our educational processes upon the basis of God’s model school, the family, and receive, as pupils, children and youth of both sexes.

The education of the sexes together, under a wise and watchful supervision, conduces eminently to simplicity, modesty, purity, and general elevation of character; quickens the perception of those nameless proprieties which adorn mutual relations; excites attention to personal habits; gives refinement of feeling, gentleness, grace and courtesy to manners, and symmetry to mental and moral development.

To provide for the children and youth, resorting hither for education, such conditions of development as may be conducive to their innocence and growth in virtue, is a sacred and paramount aim. It is adopted as an inflexible condition of admission to the School, that no pupil of vicious habits shall be received. Profaneness, impure language, indecent actions, reckless violence, impracticable tempers, or habits of any kind, tending directly to counteract the processes of nurture in others, will as effectually exclude their subject as an infectious disease. To such, and to those using tobacco in any form, or intoxicating drinks as a beverage, the doors of our school cannot be opened.

Pupils can be admitted at any time, and will be charged from the date of entrance but none will be received for a less period than two full quarters.

The terms are Sixty Dollars a quarter, payable in advance. There will be no deviation from these terms, except in cases provided for by special arrangement. This amount defrays the expense of tuition in all branches not included in the list of ‘extra charges,’—washing, to the extent of one dozen pieces per week, bed, bedding, room, furniture, heat, lights, use of library, apparatus, gymnasium, and work-shop.

Eagleswood School is situated at the head of Raritan Bay, one mile from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the route of the Camden and Amboy Line, from New York to Philadelphia.

Perth Amboy is twenty miles from New York, and has daily communication with it by steamer.

The Eagleswood Omnibus takes passengers to and from the steamer, morning and evening.

Application for admission of pupils, or for further information, may be made to THEODORE D. WELD Perth Amboy, New Jersey

PRESIDENT J. H. EATON, L. L. D.,
 * Union University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee,

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March 27

S rapidly rising in favor, and a competent teacher of this art will supply a long-felt want. Miss H. G. GUNDERSON, 16 Bradford street, offers her services in this department to Colleges, Academies, Schools, professional gentlemen, ladies, and all who wish to acquire a correct style of reading and speaking.

Miss G. has permission to refer to the following gentlemen:—


 * G. F. THAYER, Esq., late Principal of the Chauncy Hall School.

AMOS BAKER, Esq., Principal of Chapman Hall School.

Rev. J. W. OLMSTEAD, Editor of the Watchman and Reflector.

Rev. C. F. BARNARD, Warren St. Chapel.

Prof. H. B. HACKETT, Newton Theological Seminary.

Prof. ALVAH HOVEY,

Rev. O. S. STEARNS, Newton Centre.

Rev. J. NEWTON BROWN, D. D., Philadelphia.

Rev. L. F. BEECKER, D. D., Principal of Saratoga Female Seminary.

Boston, May 1, 1857.

