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420   DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.   MARCH,1861
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HAYTIAN EMIGRATION.
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POTTSVILLE, Pa., Feb. 5, 1861.

Mr. Editor:-- Will you be kind enough to answer the following questions for my information and others?

1.  As our old and well tried friend, are you positively in favor of the emigration of our people to Hayti ?

2. Are you fully satisfied with the truthfulness of the representations of the Haytian Government, etc., as set forth by Mr. James Redpath's 'Guide to Hayti?'

3.  Do you expect to emigrate there at any time, providing the eleva ion [sic] of our people in the United State progresses at the same ratio that it has for the last, say seven years?

Will you be kind enough to give me a decisive answer upon these points, and I would be happy to have it publicly noticed in your next issue?

Yours,       GEO. C. ANDERSON.

Emigration to Hayti is wise or foolish, commendable or otherwise, according to the circumstances of the emigrant himself.  There are individuals and classes of our people which would undoubtedly succeed well in Hayti. - Those accustomed to the culture of cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco, and who have been driven North by the oppressive laws of the slave States, would do well to turn their course towards Hayti.  But we are not in favor of wholesale and indiscriminate emigration to Hayti, or elsewhere.  Such of our number as have acquired property, are making a good living, and have the means of educating their children, would be quite unwise to part with their property and leave a useful position for the uncertainties of emigration to Hayti, or elsewhere.  We are in favor of emigration as a colored man, just as we should be if we were an Englishman, or an Irishman, living in England or Ireland.  To you who have no foothold here, we should say, go there.  But as we should not be in favor of saying to all the people of those countries, be off, so we are not in favor of saying to all [[missing word]] colored people here, [[italics]] move off. [[/italics]]  We are far from calling upon any part of our people to emigrate, for public reasons, such as inability to live among white people, or for the charms of a 'Colored Nationality.'  The things for which men should emigrate are food, clothing, property, education, manhood and material prosperity, and he who has these where he is, had better stay where he is, and exert the power which they give him to overcome whatever of social or political oppression which may surround him.  So much for the first question.

2d.  Yes; we are fully satisfied with the truthfulness of Mr. REDPATH'S representations of the Haytian Government.  We believe him to be an honest man, and a sincere friend of the colored race.

3d.  No; we do not expect to emigrate to Hayti under any circumstances now existing or apprehended.  We have personal and peculiar reasons for staying just where we are. - The same work to which we have given the first years of our manhood, requires our last, and shall have them.  Nevertheless, we shall rejoice in the success attending our people who shall seek homes in Hayti, and if ever able to do so, we are resolved to visit them and see how they get along in their new homes.

We think the above a sufficiently explicit answer to the questions of our friend, Mr. ANDERSON, and to many others who have made similar inquiries of us about going to Hayti.
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- A bill to cut off mail facilities from seceding States has passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 131 to 36.
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BRITISH WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.
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Great Britain has done many noble things in her life, and has, beyond all nations of modern times, won for herself the grateful homage and admiration of the lovers of justice and the rights of mankind.  She has generously afforded an asylum for the oppressed from all countries, and of all colors; but in no instance has she exerted her beneficent powers more worthily than in the recent case of poor ANDERSON, consigned to the gallows by a Canadian Court for an offense which, had it been committed by other than a man of color, would have been deemed meritorious, and applauded rather than punished.  The history of this case is well known to our readers.  While running away for his liberty, a hound, by the name of DIGGS, with his two slaves, undertook to arrest and detain ANDERSON, and after running for an hour, the fugitive turned upon DIGGS, his pursuer, stabbed and killed him, and afterwards succeeded in reaching Canada.  Taking advantage of the Ashburton Treaty, which makes it the duty of the respective Governments parties to it, to deliver up fugitives from justice, ANDERSON was demanded of Canada;  and with more regard for the letter than for the spirit of the law, Canadian justice delivered up the hero as a criminal.  Fortunately, before the decision of the Courts was executed, the great writ of habeas corpus, which has wrought wonders in the progress of freedom in England, was granted from Westminster Hall by Chief Justice COCKBURN, ordering ANDERSON to be brought to England.  This interference on the part of the Home Government seemed very offensive to the slaveites of Canada, and before the writs of habeas corpus could be served, ANDERSON was set at [[missing text]] a mere technical informality.  [[Missing text]] habeas corpus, and may its potent shadow never be less!

Our friends in England took a very deep interest in this case, and they will rejoice with us over the release of the prisoner, and that vengeance of cruel men will not be satisfied by putting this innocent man to death. - We are under obligations to our friends at Cork for keeping us informed of British public opinion respecting this case.  The tone of the London Daily News, in respect to the claims of ANDERSON, was as high and creditable to the British press, as the granting of the habeas corpus, by Chief Justice COCKBURN, was worthy of the humanity and glory of the British nation.  The following from the Toronto Globe, will show how the release of ANDERSON was received by the people:

Mr. Sheriff Jarvis then stepped up to Anderson and announced to him that he was free!  Anderson rose from his seat smiling, and turning to the bench as he left the Court, said:  'Thank you gentlemen - thank your lordships.'  He was then conducted through the Judge's room into the centre Hall.  On reaching the front of the building he was warmly received by the large crowd who had filled the Court, and congratulated on his discharge.  A number of clergymen and others grasped him warmly by the hand, and three cheers were given for the 'British Government,' led by an enthusiastic colored man.  A sleigh was procured at the head of York street, and into this Anderson stepped, accompanied by Ald. Naismith and others.  The party drove to several places in the city, and in the evening a comfortable boarding house was found for Anderson.  The news that he was free was soon known throughout the city, and every one appeared to feel glad that the poor fugitive had 
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escaped, even by a technicality, the vengence of the slave-owners of the South.

The discharge has been ordered on two distinct grounds.  First, the warrant of commitment recites that Anderson stands charged, for that he did 'wilfully, maliciously, and feloniously, stab and kill one Seneca T.P. Diggs, of Howard county,' which might amount only to manslaughter;  whereas, the Judges decide, that to come within the provisions of the treaty, the charge must be one of 'murder.'  Second, the warrant commits Anderson to the gaol of Brantford 'until he shall be discharged according to law;'  whereas, the Judges decide, he should have been committed 'until surrender be made or until he shall be discharged according to law.'

Anderson is now among his friends - but he is still liable to re-arrest on documents prepared more carefully than the last.  The danger, however is by no means what it was.  It is to be hoped that no second Matthews is to be found in the Magistracy of Canada - and if unhappily there was another such, good care will, we fancy, be taken that Anderson shall not be found until the intent and meaning of the Extradition Treaty in regard to slaves has been authoritatively determined.
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GERRIT SMITH AT THE CAPITAL.
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In times like these, when the Union is idolized at the North, and despised, insulted and spit upon at the South;  when, to save the Union, men are called upon to sacrifice the dignity of Government and  priceless principles of Liberty, which Governments are instituted to establish and preserve;  when the hearts of admitted and approved statesman, like SEWARD and ADAMS, are failing them for fear, and the higher order of the Clergy are racking their brains and ransacking their Bibles to find arguments for oppression, and texts to support tyranny, and the tendency of the nation is to the regions of despair and ruin - it is consoling to see one man of power standing firm, amid the general demoralization, speaking with power and authority the words of Truth and Soberness - and such a man is GERRIT SMITH.  His speech before the Legislature, a few days ago, in behalf of a Personal Liberty Bill, is one of the noblest and best of all his speeches.  He appeared their at the request of petitioners, branded with popular opprobrium, mobbed and insulted as disturbers of the peace, and to advocate a measure of mercy which has arrayed against it all that is selfish, servile and mean in politics, and all that is compromising and cowardly in the temper and spirit of the times.  He stood before those who, for the sake of dishonorable and worthless peace with the Slave Power of the country, would sacrifice the most precious and sacred rights of human nature, and faithfully delivered his soul regardless of the raging billows of corruption and deterioration around him.  We have room only for the closing remarks of Mr. SMITH, as we find them published in the New York Tribune.  They are not more fervid and eloquent, than true and appropriate to the times and the occasion.  With GERRIT SMITH at Albany, and WENDELL PHILLIPS in Boston, all the floods of disunion will not be able to extinguish the fires of Freedom at the North.

Poor black men!  All the deeper will be your sorrows when the North and the South shall come together again, light-hearted, loving, and joyful, in another and ungodly compromise.-  'And the King and Haman sat down to drink - but the City Shushan was perplexed.'  Alas for our city Shushan, if still more perplexities are in store for her troubled spirits and bleeding hearts!  Will neither North nor South ever have done with torturing and murdering her?  It is a cheap thing (though in the end it may
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Transcription Notes:
-Unsure if "The Sermons of Drs." (2nd column, mid-page) is on this page or the page underneath; the lines don't line up perfectly and may be transcribed on this page by mistake. -- Reviewer - I feel that is text from another page showing through torn paper.