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[[right margin]] ^[[R. K Ross]] [[/right margin]]

DOUGLASS' MONTHLY

"OPEN THY MOUTH FOR THE DUMB, IN THE CAUSE OF ALL SUCH AS ARE APPOINTED TO DESTRUCTION; OPEN THEY MOUTH,
JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY, AND PLEAD THE CAUSE OF THE POOR AND NEEDY." - Proverbs xxxi 8, 9.

VOLUME IV Number V.
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1861
Price - One Dollar PER ANNUM.

CONTENTS OF THE PRESENT NUMBER

Memorial of the People to Congress - 529
The Situation - 529
The Real Peril of the Republic - 529
Gen. Fremont's Proclamation - 530
Barclay Coppic Killed - 530
Our National Fast - 531
To our Readers and Subscribers - 532
Death of John M'Dowall, Esq - 532
The Duty of Abolitionists in the Present State of the Country - 533
Letters from the Old World - 533
The Contrabands - 534
A Move in the Right Direction - 534
Nat Turner's Insurrection - 538
First of August Celebration in Leeds - 540
Gerrit Smith's Letter to President Lincoln - 541
Stealing Slaves to sell South - 543
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DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.

"I lay this down as the law of nations.  I say that the military authority takes, for the time, the place of municipal institutions, Slavery among the rest.  Under that state of things, so far from its being true that the States where Slavery exists have the exclusive management of the subject, not only the President of the United States, but the Commander of the army has power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves." - John Q. Adams.
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MEMORIAL OF THE PEOPLE TO CONGRESS

"PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND, TO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF."

To the Congress of the United States:

The undersigned, citizens of [[space]], State of [[space]], respectfully submit—

That as the present formidable rebellion against the General Government manifestly finds its root and nourishment in the system of chattel slavery at the South;  as the leading conspirators are slaveholders, who constitute an oligarchy avowedly hostile to all free institutions; and as, in the nature of things, no solid peace can be maintained while the cause of this treasonable revolt is permitted to exist;  your honorable body is urgently implored to lose no time in enacting under the war power, the total abolition of slavery throughout the country—liberating unconditionally the slaves of all who are rebels, and, while not recognizing the right of property in man, allowing for the emancipated slaves of such as are loyal to the Government a fair pecuniary award, as a conciliatory measure, and to facilitate an amicable adjustment of difficulties;  and thus to bring the war to a speedy and beneficent termination, and indissolubly to unite all sections and all interests of the country upon the enduring basis of universal freedom.
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—It is estimated that five hundred of the Federal troops were killed at the battle of Bull Run, and twelve hundred taken prisoners by the enemy.  As near as can be ascertained, the rebel loss can safely be put down at two thousand killed and wounded.
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—We are compelled to leave out, in this number, for want of space, an eloquent speech by Gov. Andrew, of Massachusetts, which was recently delivered in New York.

THE SITUATION

Very little has occurred since our September paper to change the aspect of the war against the rebels.  The most important achievement of our arms is the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark, in North Carolina, thus cutting off the rebels of Virginia from the Atlantic entirely, and reviving in the old North State the almost extinguished fires of loyalty, and greatly alarming the rebels for the safety of the Southern slave coast generally.  Over seven hundred rebels were taken prisoners, and our force also captured some thirty guns and a large quantity of military stores.

Affairs about Washington have experienced no change, except in the increase of loyal troops, and the gradual reduction of them to more stringent military discipline.—The rebels are, from the best accounts, in large force, and are slowly pushing their lines towards those of the loyal army.  Every confidence seems to prevail in the loyal States that the next great battle on the Potomac will result in victory for the Union, and no alarm is felt for the safety of the Capital.—Gen. MCCLELLAN enjoys the fullest confidence of the army and the country.

In Western Virginia there have been several battles, but none of great importance, and of no decisive character.  The rebel General, FLOYD, has been defeated.

In Missouri the Government has sustained a heavy blow in the loss of Lexington, a fortified town defenced by four or five thousand troops, against between twenty and thirty thousand rebels.  The victory of the rebels was complete, though marred by the loss of nearly a thousand men.  Our loss is estimated at two hundred killed and wounded.

The Union cause has much improved in Kentucky.  Her effort to remain neutral has been abandoned, and she is now ranged firmly with the loyal States, though there is, doubtless, a strong current of sympathy with the rebels still existing among her slaveholders.—BRECKINRIDGE, who was a candidate for the Presidency of the Southern and slaveholding wing of the Democratic party, and whose loyalty has been in doubt, has now, after pursuing a double course, the better to serve the rebels, thrown off all disguises, and gone to his own place among the slaveholding traitors and rebels.

The slight manifestation of a purpose to divide the North by the revival of party lines and party feeling, which we noticed last month, has been most signally rebuked by the overwhelming loyal sentiment of the people.

There has been quite a strong effort to remove Gen. FREMONT from his command in Missouri, but thus far unavailing.  To this matter there is extended reference in our other columns.  The sinews of war, both in men and money, are everywhere at the command of the Government.  Less apprehension seems to be felt than formerly of interference by foreign powers with the blockade.

THE REAL PERIL OF THE REPUBLIC

Denied, as we are, by a feeling in the country which we will not now stop to characterize, the humble privilege of active exertion with others in upholding the national flag and suppressing the present raging slaveholding rebellion, the next best thing, perhaps, is to watch the course of the conflict, observe the weak points of the enemy, mark the mistakes of friends, declare the sources of danger, and to point out the true method of avoiding them.  Speaking as we do, only once in each month, our communications ought to possess something of the quality of history.  Indeed, a paper published monthly can be, in these fast times, a newspaper to but a very few.  The mission of our journal is, therefore, to be a faithful recorded, not of all events touching the great conflict going on between liberty and slavery in this country, whether in the field or in the councils of the nation, but of the most important of them, and enough of them, to enable all, whether near by or afar off, who may read our journal, to form an intelligent judgement in respect to the character of the whole controversy.  In this capacity of recorder, it is our duty, as already stated, to observe and criticise what is passing before us.

Let it, then, be borne in mind, that if this great American Government of ours—the pride of its people, and the admiration of the friends of freedom throughout the world—shall now, in this the first great trial of its strength, go down into the gloomy depths of social confusion, and into the midnight darkness of wild anarchy and chaos, the fact will not be explained by the tremendous power or extraordinary ability arrayed against it—for the rebels are notoriously a miserable, ill clad, ill fed, ill armed and poverty-stricken set.—  This is a well ascertained fact.  Our Government will not perish by these miserable foes, nor by want of a good cause to defend, or the necessary physical material to defend that cause.  On this point there is no doubt anywhere at the North, or at the South, at home or abroad.  Our Government is opulent in all the materials and munitions of war.  Men and money flow to its standard in defeat as well as in victory, like the rushing waters of Erie to those of Ontario.  All that great wealth, physical bravery, and military skill can do to save the country, will doubtless be done.  If we fall, we shall fall by moral causes, not by outward strength, but by internal weakness.  Physical power is important—bread is indispensable—but nations, no more than individuals, can live by bread alone.  The thing which we wish here and now to urge upon public attention, and which is the central idea of all our lectures through the country, is, that no amount of physical courage or strength can possibly supply the place of wisdom and justice.

In the prosecution of the war thus far, our Government has shown its poverty and 

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