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JANUARY, 1863,      DOUGLASS MONTHLY.      771
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kind of mental food——swords not words, cannons, not chronicles, pistols not paper, were the things which cheifly interested them and there was little sacrafice in giving up the latter.  But now the supply of paper at the North has given out——a paper famine has set in which is keenly felt by both publisher and readers.  The cost of rags is more than three times the amount paid at the beginning of the war——and the tendency is still upward.  The famine in paper has already reduced the size and increased the price of most of our leading journals——and in all the likelihoods of the case will cause many of the weekly and reformatory papers, which have hitherto been only a little above the starving point, to be abandoned altogether.  For ourselves, the cost of paper pinches us as sharply, in proportion to our size and circulation as any——and whether we shall be able to survive the crises, time will determine.  That we have been able to publish a paper so long——in the service of our enslaved people, considering our humble history and the many disadvantages a man of our color is compelled to labour under when attempting any work requiring anything higher than two elbows and a good apetite.  When we began the publication of our paper——our friends, with the history of other efforts of the kind before them, gave us six months as the utmost limit, of Journalistic life——and our own hopes did not extend far beyond that limit, but having as we believed a work to do——and the disposition to do it, we took no counsel of the fears of our friends nor of our own——but went to work at it with full purpose of heart, believing that our cause, just, holy and noble would sustain our humble endeavours to serve it——and in this belief we have not been mistaken.  During fifteen years——of difficulties and hindrances which we will not innumerate we have continued to make Rochester our point from which to send out appeals and arguments against Slavery.  To have done this, is not to have done much but it is at any rate, something——and the thought of it affords us no small measure of satisfaction.  Believing that our journal is still a means of good to the cause——we should find it hard to succomb to the necessity which may compel its suspension.  We shall make no effort to live like many others' by increasing our price——or altering the size and quality of paper upon which we now print. In order to do this we have only to ask our subscribers who are in arrears to pay up their dues——immediately on the receipt of our January number.  If we could only have what is now due us——we should fully be able to continue to scatter our monthly over the land for the healing of the nation.
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THE TIDE TURNING,
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We observe with no small that the address written by us to Great Britain against her intervention in American affairs, and which was first published in this country in the columns of the New York Independent, and in England in the London Daily News——has been extensively copied on both sides of the Atlantic——and considered as a word fitly spoken.  At the start the rebels got the ear of Great Britain and had everything pretty much its own way.  According to present appearance the tide of sentiment is rapidly turning in favor of the Loyal Government against the slaveholding rebels who are endeavouring
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with all their might to break it up.  Public meetings are being held, lectures delivered, able editorial articles written——and the right of the question and something of the old anti-slavery policy of Britain is being roused and made active.

When it is seen over there as it certainly will be that the loyal people of this government are the only true friends of England in America, outside her own dominions——we may expect to see still further manifestations of sympathy with the people of the north.  A truly brotherly feeling is showing itself here in behalf of the unimployed and destitute classes in Lancashere and Yorkshere.  Ships ladened with provisions——will soon arrive at Liverpool, if they have not already done so for the relief of the suffering.  It is a noble and generous movement on our part and it will not fail to be so considered on the part of Great Britain.  It is an assurance that we are not willingly prolonging the war and inflicting hardships upon our neighbours, and that we are glad to be able to do something towards mitigating those evils.  We venture to predict that no such proofs of sympathy with the destitute in England will reach that country from the Confederate Slaveholding States.——The feeling now becoming favorable to us in Great Britain will become more so after the first of January.
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The Black Man, his Antecedents, his Genius and his achievements, by William Wells Brown, Auther of "Clotelle," "Sketches of Places People abroad" Mivalda or the beautiful Quadroon, &c."——Published by Thomas Hamilton, 48 Beekman Street New York.
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In this book of two hundred and eighty pages we have an additional instalment of the Black man's reply to the damaging charge of natural and permament inferiority.  The "Tribute to the Negro" by Mr. WILSON ARMSTEAD, of Leeds, England, is a thorough vindication (so far as books can be such) of the capabilities of the negro race, but unfortunately that volume is least read where its valuable facts and arguments are most needed.  The negro needs defence everywhere but no where as in the United States.  The sentiment in France and England, in Europe generally and even in South America is more just than here.  While Slavery lasts, and long after, there will constantly arise occasions for defense and vindication.  Ignorance, prejudice, pride of race and the selfishness of power, will continue to evolve disparaging questions which none can answer so well as the blackman himself.  Mr. Brown the author of the Book before us, is, as most our readers know, a man of colour——and on that acore according to fair-play, has a positive claim to be heard.  But let no one imagine that this is the only claim which this book has upon his attention.  The strength and significance of the work before us do not consist of the remarkable history and character of its Author.  Of course the fact that Mr. Brown is a man of colour, that he has worn for years the galling fetters of Slavery, that the best part of his life for the formation of character, for high and noble aspirations, and for all purposes of education was full of depressing influences, may well enough be considered by the generous reader for his own sake, and not for Mr. Brown's.  The Book standing alone, wholly independent of its Author may well rest upon its own meret.  We hail it as a valuable contribution to the colored literature of the country
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now only in its day of small things, but destined to grow and increase to far greater strength and volume than any enemy has ever feared, or any friend has ever hoped of the colored man.  Senator Tombs——before rebellion in his heart had extended to his hand- made a pilgrimage to Boston to convince the good people of that city that Slavery was the best use to which it was possible to put men of colour——said among other things that if every negro were blotted out of existence in America, in twenty years, there would be nothing left to prove that such a race ever existed here.  This was of course a false statement, but seen through the prismatic glass of prejudice it doubtless seemed true to most his hearers.  Nevertheless there was some truth in it.  Colored men have thus far left but few enduring proofs of their mental ability.  In some respects they are like the slaveholding class of our countrymen——they have done very little for the arts and sciences——and have written few books that will live after them.——The negro and his master are about to be put upon trial together——and although the masters have immensely the advantage at the start we have no fear for the result, if the negro only has fair play.  Though Mr. Brown's book may stand alone upon its own merits and stand strong——yet while reading its interesting pages——abounding in fact and argument replete with eloquence, logic and learning——clothed with simple yet elegant language, it is hard to repress the enquiry whence has this man this knowledge?  He seems to have read and remembered nearly every thing which has been written or said respecting the ability of the negro——and has condensed and arranged the whole into and admirable argument——calculated both to interest and convince.  It should find its way into every school library——and indeed, every house in the land——especially should every colored man possess it.——The Blackman may be obtained at the Bookstore of D. M. Dewey——in the Arcade Rochester.
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JUST LIKE HIM,
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Hon. GERRIT SMITH, has promptly given his thousand dollars towards sending relief to the unemployed and destitute poor in Great Britain.  This is just like him.  His sympathies are not confined neither to latitude, longitude, color, clime, but wherever their is a cry of distress there is GERRIT SMITH to succor and releave.  When famine and pestilence broke the heart of Ireland.  He was there——and now that our war is falling heavily on the poor in England——the same generous hand is extended.
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DRAMATIC READING.——Mr. Editor, a few evenings since, we had the pleasure of listening to the reading of Mrs. LOUESA DE MORTIA of Boston, and so well pleased were we, with the effort, that with your permission, we propose to give her a little notice in your Monthly.  Mrs. De Mortia has a very fine face, large brilliant eyes a mouth full of expression, bespeaking an earnest soul.  Her bearing is graceful and quiet, so that the impression she makes as she seats herself before her audience is exceedingly pleasant——her voice is excellent, mellow and full and we are sure with practice, she will be able to use it to any extent required in her profession.  We hope she will find success her attendant, and 
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Transcription Notes:
bold and italics notations omitted, misspellings retained, and hyphenated words made whole per Smithsonian instructions