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September, 1862      DOUGLASS MONTHLY.      713
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ourselves.  A word of claptrap from a minister  and perhaps a jest will have [[blank space]] It was one of the little de [[blank space]] hard to deny a minister, as it would be to stint him in his lumps of sugar at breakfast.  A force of Englishmen was sent out without justice and came back without honor; but far be it for forty gentlemen of the present build, to wait the hearing.

Posterity on this, seeing the effect, will be apt to ask the cause.  And the answer will be, it was because the men who did not think worth while to hear, were not the men to pay.  They were in the main, the delegates of another set, to wit of men like themselves.——They more or less held on by the tail of the general plan for employing the military and naval force in dishonest jobs against the weak   They were men who laughed in their sleeves at the goodness of the joke, of sending a written order to preserve neutrality for production to parliament, and an apostille in the corner to intimate to the commander of a sloop of war to get fired upon and then proceed to action.  The representatives who endured this, will point to a state of trustworthiness, paralleled only by their knowledge, when they applied themselves to giggle at the notion that the less the nation had expended, the more it had to spend.  And this will direct posterity's keen eye, to the facts, by that time perhaps amended, that the representation was to a great extent no representation, but a system of violence, like opening every man's letter at the post office; and that the taxes were levied on the poor and not on the rich by the invention of a rate increasing to an extent which will be held fabulous, in proportion to the cheapness of the class of article consumed.

Take another instance, of the connection between what is done, and what come of it.  When the southern States of America broke into rebellion and invaded the North in precautionary defense of slavery, you might have been spared the distress and anxiety consequent on the interruption of your supplies, if a minister with a head upon his shoulders would have said to the Northern States, Put your rebellion down quick.  You have only to appeal to the four millions who are your friends, and the thing is done.  Your officers will do it in a fortnight, only let them.  Instead of this insulting transmissions by the "Great Ship," and a expedition to Mexico because it was known to be the shabbiest and most keenly felt advantage taken of America's division.  Everybody flew out for slavery.  Termagant women from Wellington would have sent by the dozens to beat hemp, trained in the domestic pollution which of necessity is in the aggregate inherent in slaveholding families, became the objects of chivalrous admiration.  No stone was left unturned, to prevent your consummation.  And so you are as you are.  When anybody eats thin porridge, remember it was because nobody would go the way that could, and nobody could that would. 

One word more, to be received or not, as you see reason.  Do not think too lightly of military officers.  They have their faults and many.  But they are educated to call a post a post, and not run against it with their eyes open.  And they put their lives upon the cast; which has considerable effect in sharpening a man's wits.  The American generals would have walked out of their distress and yours, in the quickest time practiced in the army.  But it might not be.  There was provision as in the Corporal celebrated in Irish military song who "married a wife to make him unasy."——Nobody doubts the general propriety of the military authority being directed by the civil.  But this does not excuse the civil for sacrificing the countay [sic] to the aspirations of foreigners to divide.  Here too cause will produce effect.  Which they who live will see.  May it be favorable to you and to our friends.——Be of good hope; Fremont and Hunter will save you yet.
Yours sincerely,
T. PERRONET THOMPSON.
Eliot Vale, Blackheath, July 31, 1862.
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THE WHITE MAN'S WAR.
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A fire broke out in Lake street last night about eleven o'clock.  The wind was blowing a gale.  The steam engines, from long disuse were inefficient.  The firemen from the same cause were blundering in their operations, and the orders issued by the captains of the different machines were contradictory and damaging.  The flames, unchecked roared and leaped so many demons of destruction, and as they swept eastward towards the lake, westward towards the south branch, and northwards over Water street, and among the shipping at the docks, laid anything low that they embraced.  The banks, the splendid temples of commerce which the industry and taste of our merchants had reared, the dwellings of the rich and the humbler tenements of the poor, the shops of the artisans and the offices of the professional men, numberless hotels, a theatre, a lecture room and lyceum, were taken up by the lurid heat and dissipated in flame and smoke.  The ruin was immense; but the destruction of human life was appalling.  The falling of every roof was a announcement that a company of gallant firemen, and hundreds of citizens who had volunteered to assist in stifling the destroyer, had been killed.  The scene was terrific.  Mothers went up and down the lurid streets seeking their sons.  Fathers in agony assisted in bearing loved ones to homes that they were to honor no more.  A wail filed the city from end to end, and thousands not of women only but strong men prayed as if their last day had come.  But neither work nor prayers stayed the destruction, and by and by the ranks of the helpers grew thin.  The dead and maimed could work no more, and the others grew tired with the superhuman toil.  Just before day, hardly and hour before we went to press, a thousand black men living in the South Division, roused by the clangor of bells, the cries of the wounded, and the roar of the elements, came and offered their aid in beating back and subduing the conflagration.  They had lived long in the city; they knew it well; they were fresh healthy and accustomed to toil; they were eager to help, and everybody knew that they were in earnest in their offers.  But higher that the conflict of fire and water, above the din of machinery, the groans of the wounded, the shrieks of women and the deep groans of men, rose the contention over the offer that the black men made.  "D——n the niggers," cried out the men who were more than suspected of being the incendiaries:  "Let ihem go home and do their tasks——this is a woite mau's fire!"——At this point, while the fire is still burning, and the clamor in progress, we are obliged to go to press.  God grant that our next issue may bring to our readers the settlement of the question on the side of public safety and humanity.  A rumor comes that it is likely the blacks may be allowed to work to the leeward with housepails.  An elderly gentleman names Browning opposes even this.  The fire is still making good headway as we close.——Chicago Tribune.
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FIRST OF AUGUST AT MYRICKS.
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There was a large attendance at the Union Mass Meeting at Myrick's station, yesterday.  Nearly one thousand persons went from this city.  The assembly was called to order by William H. Johnson, of this city, and organized by the appointment of the following officers:

President——Hon. Rodney French.

Vice Presidents——Revs. J. Girdwood, Wm. Jackson, T. R. Dennison, of this city, Rev. Mr. Jackson of Lakeville, Wm. Bush, Dan'l Ricketson, A. W. Monroe, of this city, and C. R. Goodman of Fall River.

Secretaries——Lewis H. Douglass, of Rochester, N.Y., and Wm. H. Johnson of this city.

Business Committee——D. Ricketson, Rev. Wm. Jackson, and C.R. Goodman.

The President on taking the chair, delivered a stirring speech, and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Girdwood,Mr. Goodman, Mr. 
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Moulton of this city, and Frederick Douglass of Rochester, N.Y.  The speakers each and all were in favor of using the most vigorous means to put down the rebellion, calling upon every young man to shoulder his musket and march to the conflict.

The following resolutions were adopted:——

Whereas, in the present war between the North and South, it is in vain to ignore slavery as the cause, and consequently its removal as the only means of restoring peace and prosperity to our nation, therefore:

Resolved, That this is a war of slavery against Freedom; that we have an implacable enemy to deal with in the slave power, and that no measures except those of the most thorough and radical nature can qualify us to combat with the same and secure us success.

Resolved, secondly, That it is the imperative duty of the President of the United States to immediately make use of the authority with which he is invested under the "war power", and in the language of John Quincy Adams, "ORDER THE UNIVLRSAL [sic] EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES."

Resolved, That measures should be immediasely [sic] taken, either by a special session of our Legislature or otherwise as may be lawful or proper, to remove all disqualifications from our statue books relative to the full recognition of the colored man's rights to citizenship, and particularly for the end and purpose of enrolling him as a soldier upon equal torms [sic] with all other citizens. Furthermore,

Resolved, That we cannot expect the blessings of Divine Providense [sic] upon our armies unless our object be to secure the sacred right of Freedom to all who shall come uuder [sic] the Government of our furture national Commonwealth.

In the evening there was a meeting in Salem Baptist Church, in this city, which was addressed by Mr. Douglass, Mr. French, T. R. Dennison and W. H. Johnson, and singing by the children.——New Bedford (Mass.) Standard.
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——The subscriptions made to the Volunteer Fund in Philadelphia are swelling every day.  On Tuesday, 12th, they amounted to nearly $400,000.  The separate subscriptions to difference regiments, will add about $100,000 more.  The railroad subscriptions are $84,000.  The army appropriation is $500.000.  Thus, nearly $1,100,000 has been given by the government, the corporations and the citizens of Philadelphia for the purpose of assisting the national government in raising troop, and the contributions have not yet ceased.

——Three powerful and impregnable iron-clad gunboats, named respectively the Chilicothe, Indianola and Tuscumbia are now building and nearly completed——the two former at Cincinnati, and the later at New Albany, Indiana.  The three boats names are of the Monitor order; that is, their armaments are carried in turrets, impregnably encased in iron, while every part of the hulls in any manner exposed to shot is guarded with heavy iron plates several feet below the water line.

——The Worcester Transcrpt says a young recruit of that city last week obtained leave to go home and see his family.  Proceeding to the back yard he deliberately took and axe and cut off the first three fingers of his left hand.  After the wound was dressed he claimed exemption from returning to service on the ground of inability to do duty, but Col. Wells declines to exempt him.  He must go to the war, the laughing stock of his company, if only fit to be hewer of wood and drawer of water.

——In a recent rebel letter, a gifted son of the South speaks of a fight on the 'pernincherler.

——The fees of the Marshall of the district of Columbia will amount this year to the trifling sum of $100,000.
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