severer bondage the unfortunate objects of their crusading folly. Especially do not conclude that I am hostile to emancipation in every form, and ready to give over the African race to perpetual, hopeless bondage. No. But in this matter the South must take the lead; there exists among us on this point, a jealousy—shall I not add, well grounded? The Colonization Society is operating a great change in public opinion here-it is gaining the confidence of the whole South. I rejoice that the Abolitionists are running tilt against it; and if not discredited by the mad zeal of a misguided philanthropist, it will lead, I am sure, to the adoption of judicious measures on a much larger scale to rescue from servitude and degradation the unfortunate Africans among us. I greatly desire to learn from you the extent of any disposition that may exist in your section to attempt directly the abolition of slavery in the south, and whatever else of interest you may have to communicate on this subject. Could you furnish me any information calculated to remove the suspicions and quiet the apprehensions of the South, (for I hope and still believe that right feelings concerning slavery prevail at the North,) its publication in our newspapers here, I feel confident, would be productive of great good. Hoping to hear from you at your earliest leisure, I am, very truly, your friend and humble servant. SLAVERY. BY MRS. SIGOURNEY. WE have a goodly clime, Broad vales and streams we bcast,- Suns bless our harvest fair With fervid smile serene, But yet a shade is gathering there-- We have a birth-right proud, We have a scutcheon bright, By our dead fathers bought: A fearful blot distains its white,- Our banner on the sea Doth float with starry eye, Emblazon'd glorious,-bold, and free, What hand with shameless stain This day, doth music rare Swell through the nation's bound; In penitence to thee, Bid our lov'd land the lesson learn To bid the slave,-be free. LETTER FROM CHARLESTON. SOME of the views of the writer of the following letter we do not fully concur with, but have concluded to publish it as it is. CHARLESTON, JULY 8, 1833. You ask me to give you my opinion on the best mode of abolishing slavery from our land. I answer, let the slaves be sent back to Liberia. I am aware that many differ from me in this opinion. In truth, I held a different opinion myself, before I came to the South, and was a witness of the evils of slavery. I had almost entertained an idea (and it is one which is too common in our [the Northern] section of the country) that the slaves were in too many cases little better than brutes: that, deprived of all the comforts and blessings of social life, they were made entirely the tools of their master's avarice and caprice. I was then in favor of the immediate abolition of slavery, but now I hold to a very dif ferent doctrine; one which meets with the approbation of the conscientious slave-holders themselves, and which is universally entertained by all those who have been among the slaves, and not taken their opinions from the visionary schemes of the ignorant though disinterested friends of the blacks in other sections. As I said before, the only sensible and feasible means by which the work of freeing our country from the disgrace of slavery, may be commenced with auspices of tolerable promise, is by restoring the negroes to the land of their forefathers. It is said, that though we are conscious of entertaining an unjust and wicked prejudice against the colored people, we do but increase it by advocating this colonization, and virtually admitting that they cannot stay among us. That this prejudice does exist, I will own. But I also believe that it is one from which it is very hard, if not absolutely impossible to free ourselves. It must be a work of time at the best. The negroes, if they live among us, must form a distinct class. Still, if this unjust prejudice were the only ground on which the merits of the colonization cause rested, I, for one, would not advocate it. My reasons are very different. I believe that if the slaves were to be once freed, and suffered to remain here, our country would be in a worse condition, and the slaves themselves would by no means change their condition-bad enough it is true-for one any better. The specimens which I saw of free people of color at the North, did not give me a very favorable opinion of their ability and will to take care of themselves; and I assure you, those I see about me now, have not altered it. The negroes are proverbially a lazy set, and prefer a frolic or a sound nap under the scorching rays of the sun, to laboring either with the mind or body. They are improvident, too, and care only for the present moment. I asked a slave whether he preferred his own situation or that of (mentioning a lazy, drunken vagabond who pretended to keep a shop near by, and called himself, free.) The slave answered very sensibly that he preferred his own, saying that had something to eat sometimes, but he always had. You can form no idea of the degraded and brutal condition of the free negroes; infinitely worse, for the most part, I assure you, than that of the meanest slave. Now I say, let them be sent to Liberia. There they must labor, or starve. It is the land of their nativity, or of their ancestors, the land which God intended for their habitation. And as regards the slave-trade, what, I would ask, can be a wiser and a safer course to pursue, than, by peopling Africa with educated and emancipated slaves, to enable it to resist on its own shores those lawless aggressions on its long injured and insulted sons? 4. TEMPERANCE IN LIBERIA. THE following communication is from the Vice Agent of Liberia, the colored gentleman who recently visited this city. In answer to your questions, 1st, What is the history of the use of ardent spirits at and about the colony by the different classes of population? 2nd, What is your opinion of the means to be used for the better promotion of temperance in the colony hereafter? Ardent spirits were an article introduced by slavers, ever since the commencement of the slave-trade, and had become an article of great demand. From my first arrival at the colony, it has been my wish to abandon the use of ardent spirits; and not my wish only, but it was the wish of the principal citizens in the colony. But to abolish it at once we found impracticable. In the early state of the colony we were dependent on the natives, and had to use all means in our power to effect the great object for which we embarked. The time was when the colonists themselves thought it advisable to use a little stimulus for the preservation of their health; and when we employed a native, his first inquiries were, 'how much rum am I to have?' and unless you would give them rum you could scarce get them to work at all; we generally gave them at that time about two glasses a day. But the time has now arrived when the colonists-the principal part of them-find that the use of ardent spirits is an evil from which no good can arise. Most of them have therefore abandoned the use of it entirely. The natives that could not be hired at one time without first agreeing to allow them their usual allowance of rum, will work for us at this time without scarcely mentioning the want of it. No public laborers in the colony at this time are allowed rum. You find, sir, it is my opinion upon the whole, that moderate means should be used if we expect to be successful. We have raised Temperance Societies in the colony, and much good has resulted from them; and I have no doubt but in a short time the use of that article will not be known there. In this brief manner, sir, I have given you an imperfect account of the use of ardent spirits in the colony. Hoping that you will find enough in it at any rate to understand what I mean, in great haste, I am, dear sir, respectfully your obedient servant, A. D. WILLIAMS. OPINION OF MR. WEBSTER. To the views of the great mass of the people of the North on the subject of slavery, as expressed through the respectable northern journals, with scarcely an exception, we are enabled to add a letter from the Hon. Daniel Webster, with the letter to which it is a reply. MR. BOLTON TO HON. DANIEL WEBSTER. HON: DANIEL WEBSTER: New York, May 16, 1833. DEAR SIR,-It cannot have escaped your observation, that warm discussions are now going on in many of the southern papers, and much agitation is felt or feigned in a portion of the South, on the subject of slavery, and of imputed designs of the North against the security and value of that species of property. I have been so long and closely connected with Georgia, that I am perhaps more watchful than most others in this quarter of such discussions as these, and having reason moreover to apprehend that at this particular juncture the tendency, if not the deliberate aim and purpose, is to excite universal uneasiness and distrust in the slave-holding States, and by consequence to foment jealousies and heart-burnings against the non-slave-holding States, which designing politicians may turn to mischievous account, I have felt desirous since our conversation this morning, of obtaining an expression in writing of your views, as to the power of Congress on the subject of slaves and slavery, and also as to the existence of any wish or design on the part of the Northern men, to interfere in any way with the security or regulation of that species of property. My immediate object in thus seeking to obtain a written expression of your opinion on these subjects is, that I may communicate it to a distinguished friend of mine in Georgia, who shares in my solicitude in relation thereto, and through him to the public at large. I am, dear sir, with great respect and esteem, your obedient servant, MR. WEBSTER'S ANSWER TO MR. BOLTON, JOHN BOLTON: New York, May 17, 1833. MY DEAR SIR,-I have received your letter of last evening, requesting me to state my opinion of the powers of Congress on the subject of slaves and slavery; and of the existence of any wish or design on the part of northern men, to interfere with the security or regulation of that species of property. |