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January, 1863 | DOUGLASS' MONTHLY. | 782 [[line]] [[three column newspaper format]] [[column one]] held in the State, nor one at which loyal citizens had a better opportunity to vote their real sentiments, nor one succeeding a less exciting and acrimonious of canvass. It was the deliberate verdict of a people who had calmly weighed all the facts i the case. The result is a revolution which is in no danger of going backward. We feel a greater anxiety to have the real facts as we have stated them, correctly understood in the Northern States, on account of the conditions upon which constitutional and legal emancipation in Missouri must take place. If our election had been the triumph over slaveholder and the slaveholding interest purely, we are well aware of the repugnance the people of the North would feel toward contributing out of the national fund for the compensation of the owners of slaves to be set free. There are, of course, a number of slaveholders in Missouri who have bitterly opposed emancipation from the first, and all the time, but these will generally be found to be tainted with disloyalty, and will not, therefore, be likely to derive much benefit from a compensatory system of emancipation, frames, as it will be, with a rigid enforcement of a law of confiscation. Of the loyal slaveholders of Missouri, very many are liberal, high-minded gentlemen, and earnest Emancipationists. To deprive such men of their property for the public good, without some recompense, would clearly be unjust. [[line]] A SOUTHERN WAY OF CLINGHING AN ARGUMENT.- A few days ago a number of gentlemen, promiscuously hrown (sic) together in a railway train proceeding from Liverpool to Manchester, found that one of their number was a native of the Confederate States of America. A conversation very naturally arouse upon the struggle now existing in America, and quite as naturally change to an argument about negro slavery. The Confederate gentleman strongly defended the institution, and attempted to justify it mainly on Scriptural grounds. His chief opponent was a Manchester gentleman, who so roused the anger of the other that it became uncontrollable. To the amazement of the rest of the company, the Southerner seized the Manchester man by the throat and seemed disposed to settle the argument by strangling him. This, of course, was not allowed, and they were soon separated. When the American's temper had cooled a little, the Manchester gentleman told him that he appeared to have forgotten that he was not now in a slave State, but in a land where every man was allowed freely to express his opinions, and would be protected whist so doing by the law. He at the same time stated his intention of giving the other into the custody of a policeman for the assault. Upon the intimation their fellow passengers again interfered, and it was untimely arranged that the "belligerent" Southerner should be excused on payment of a sovereign to the fund for the relief of the distress in manufacturing districts - a penalty which he willing consented to pay, when he saw the consequences to which he had exposed himself by his display of temper. - Cork Daily Reporter. [[line]] GOOD BEHAVIOR OF THE NEGROES [[line]] For the last twenty-five years the great bugbear with which all agitation on the slavery question was sought to be repressed, was that if any great movement should be made towards liberty there was no cruelty, no rapine, no robbery, no crime too awful to be imagined, that would not be committed by the emancipated or rebellious slaves. And now I desire, in this house of God, and in the presence of his praying people, to give thanks to him, that four million of heathen -poor, despised, despoiled, much-suffering and long-outraged - have been put on the tantalizing edge of emancipation, and held there for two years, where they could see their prayers for freedom almost answered, and that they have behaved themselves so discreetly, so patiently, and so Christianly, that there can be, neither in the North nor in the South, any just cause of offence. And the strongest argument to [[end column one]] [[column two]] day why they should be emancipated is, that they deserve emancipation who behave themselves so well. Where has there been one servile insurrection, or one atrocious murder, by the hand of slaves? There have been thousands of murders by the hands of their masters, but none by theirs, though they have suffered the most aggravating wrongs. Gen. Mitchel told me that when he held a hundred and fifty miles of the Tennessee River, he was enabled to do it because he had intelligent slaves in his employ who kept him advised of the movements of the enemy. As a reward for their fidelity, he have his pledge of honor that they should not be returned to slavery; but when he was called to another field, Buell gave them right back into the hands of their masters - and the sufferings of many of them are over now! Hundreds and thousands of atrocities, such as white flesh could not bear, have been practiced upon these poor creatures; and yet, where can you find a single instance in which they have shown themselves bloodthirsty or revengeful? and is this fact no argument for thanksgiving? It is to me, for our sakes, for their sakes, and for the sake of their masters. - H.W. Beecher's Thanksgiving Sermon. [[line]] GERRIT SMITH spoke "On the State of the Country" at the Cooper Institute on Sunday evening last, to a crowded audience, presenting with great clearness the argument for Emancipation as the only way of salvation for the country. His address, in short, was in support of the following preamble and resolution, which were adopted at the close by the unanimous vote of the audience: Whereas, It is no less true of a nation that of an individual that to be just is to be saved, and to be unjust is to be lost: and Whereas, Among all the greatest violations of justice, slavery of pre-eminent. Resolved, Therefore, that, whatever the things which need to be done by the nation, in order to be saved, the penitent putting away of slavery must not be left undone. "Father Kemp's Old Folks," being present delighted the audience by singings some of their old-fashioned prices, very appropriate to the time and place. [[line]] COLORED SOLDIERS AND CONTRABAND [[line]] Ten days since, the steamers Darlington and Ben De Ford went out with two companies of South Carolina Volunteers to forage along the coast. They returned successfully, with so much excellent pine lumber, saw-mill saws, &c., that is astonished our clerks and wise men out of all mathematical calcutions (sic), and they figured $25,000 worth up to $125,000 in less than no time. Never mind. The colored soldiers fought well - that is everywhere admitted. Then came new of Gen. Hunter's appointment. Was there not joy among us? Next arrived the Colonel of the South Carolina Volunteers. A more than nine day's wonder in any other country than this, that a man so brilliant should put himself at the head of a negro regiment (always pronouncing the word negro as if spelled with two g's) Some of us did not wonder. Some of us thanked God, in the depths of our hearts, that the house and the man had come. The negroes need men to lead them, and men and women to teach them - not fops and imbeciles nor yet speculators, who, unable (for want of capacity) to earn three hundred a year at any honest calling, have decided to commit a worse than theft upon the country by officering a colored regiment (and 'making a sacrifice of themselves') at a thousand or two a year. Col. Higginson stayed not one day in the city. He landed in the morning, and at eve was with his regiment. Under his hand the work will be well done. Thanksgiving went off grandly, whites and blacks, citizens and soldiers, entering into the festivities of the occasion with great gusto. There were religious meetings on the plantations and in the towns, dinners and suppers, short rides, social gatherings, balls and frolics, and more of the latter than could be desired.- Gen. Saxton and staff spent the morning at the Pope plantation, and attended service at the Baptist Church, which is in the central part of the same island. There were gathered from one to three thousand people, to give thanks for freedom. Oh, it was a great day to us all. The colored people sung their own hymns, [[end column two]] [[column three]] and then joined with teachers and superintendents in singing: Our country, 'tis of thee Sweet land of liberty. It is now a country, indeed, to them. A sermon followed the usual exercised; but the leading feature of the meeting ws the address of General Saxton, urging them to enlist, and learn to fight the battles of right for themselves. He told them the story of Anthony Burns, and of the brave deeds of Col. Higginson in that affair, and brought tears to the eye of women, and blessings to the lips of men, by his recital. He spoke of his noble mother, who died on Thanksgiving day, who taught him to respect the rights of all and be true to them, and especially to remember the wrongs done to the negroes; urged the women to teach their children, that freedom was more than life, and that if it was not worth fighting for and defending, it was not worth having. Gen. Saxon is a good man, and his while heart is in this work. Nearly every Sabbath he is out at the churches on the plantations, or by his cheering words encourages the people. No man could stand more firmly as the friend of the negro, among the violent haters of that oppressed race by which is is surrounded. The prejudice against the blacks among the officers and soldiers here is wonderful. Did it end their, it might in time be overcome, but it extends to every one that befriends them. - Port Royal corr. of the N.Y. Tribune. [[line]] RELIEF FOR BRITISH OPERATIVES.- It affords us the highest satisfaction to announce that a movement is on foot in this city for sending substantial aid to the laborers in the English manufacturing districts who have been thrown out of employment by the failure in the supply of cotton. The accounts of the suffering resulting from this cause have awakened the deepest sympathy in this country, and in spite of the burdens imposed upon the people in the struggle to but down the rebellion of the Salve Power, there is a prevailing disposition to do something for its removal. A large meeting of the merchants was held at the Produce Exchange on Saturday last, when after stirring addresses by Rev. T.L. Cuyler and others and the adoption of a series of appropriate resolutions, a Committee was appointed to receive subscriptions. A letter from R. P. Buck & Co. was read, stating that the new ship Hope would take 1,000 barrels of flour to Liverpool free, if sent alongside on or before next Wednesday. - $8350 in cash, 300 barrels of flour and 1500 bushels of corn, were contributed on the spot. The International Committee held a meeting at the same time in the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce. An address to the people of the United States was read and adopted. It appeals to all classes in the name of every argument that can be advanced in favor of the Scripture maxim, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." A letter from Thurlow Weed, inclosing a check for $1000 was ordered to be printed. Gov. Morgan and other gentlemen sent in liberal donations. Gerrit Smith, observing the movement here promptly sent his check for $1000 - National Anti-Slavery Standard. [[line]] THE BLACK SOLDIERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. - Mrs. Frances D. Gage writes to the Independent an account of the mustering into the army of the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers:- "The black soldiers were marshaled before the headquarters of Gen. Saxton - a stalwart band - proudly shouldering their guns, as they stood in their red pants, blue coats, and caps.- Gen. Saxton, (one of God's noblemen,) whom the world will honor, came out and stood before them in military costume. Grouped around were parties of scoffing soldiers - here and there an officer, whose curled lip and upturned nose told the whole story of his patriotism and philanthropy - while groups of negroes, of all ages and sizes, filled up the cirle (sic), watching with staring eyes for this strange ceremony. Gen. Saxton is tall, with a finely moulded figure, straight as an arrow, very graceful in his motions, and exceedingly active. After showing them the first movements of the drill, and having them follow him for a few moments, he addressed them telling them in plain but very understandable language what would be expected of them as soldiers. He then administered the oath, and turning toward the crowd of sneering officers, soldiers and lackeys, with a clear voice he pronounced then all free - they, their wives, children, fathers, brothers and sisters - "and all [[end of column three]]
