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Who thinks most—feels the noblest—acts the best.’’ NEW YORK: PRINTED FOR FAMILY DISTRIBUTION. 1866. 4 2 i French & Wheat, Printers, THIS LITTLE VOLUME 1s AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY FATHER AND MOTHER ROBINSON, TO THEIR DESCENDANTS, AS FOLLOWS: JAMES CURTIS ROBINSON, ALMEDA WAIT, MARTHA HAYES, MINERVA PATTERSON, SOLON EH, ROBINSON, and NATHAN W. ROBINSON, CHILDREN OF ANNA LEWIS, FORMER WIFE OF FATHER ROBINSON, AND THEIR HEIRS ; SARAH DEAN, CHLOE PRATT, RUTH COY, and JOSEPH C. WALKER, CHILDREN OF MOTHER ROBINSON, BY HER FORMER HUSBAND, JOSEPH WALKER, OF BYRON, AND THEIR HEIRS ; AND MARY F. DAVIS, D, ELIZA PETTENGILL, ZILPHA R. PLUMB, HARRIET C. RANDALL, TRACY ROBINSON, JANE HARWOOD, AND CHARLES J. ROBINSON, OUR OWN CHILDREN, AND THEIR HEIRS. ]Our Photographs, by Gro. P. HOPKINS, of Albion, N. Y., will be found hereto attached.] ON TEN TS. +> + » 5 PAGE Autobiographical Introduction......5.... cc. ese scneeswieeeees 9 eMBMOUTY «2. ....-..-..-+- Up es ae ea te eee 17 PIER A MEOP URW... 2 ce ee eee et eee ees 20 NS i ess Os sabe cv aie coe da sews’ ee 22 2 re 23 SE i ee 26 IMO fe eon cle eee eee tee ng viete'e's 27 @ieense syevers and Liquor Traffic. .......... 22... -..eee woes 28 PRONG 5 ca |: feces oe viectypp ae es vnc sseces 30 The Rum-Selling Conspirators.............. _ he a ae 32 Merete OT PUNT, 5... ee cee eee eee ee ees 32 (TSS) OES 0s gi Oe mE MIRE ETQINOCTACY so os cn ese ee tec ee ces 36 NTE ee dt lec gc etter teens 38 Pree amiital Party... 6... ee ele eee ee eee Cee rice ss sda we nhercceeese 40 te MCaiePed PICKOb ee oe Ls a eae 40 MeePeeE UeDANAN., 2... 1 yee teen eee 41 AMER ECRSOIO) ee ee ye ee ee we 6 eg eae a 42 Re Rie GOR so eo ose 5... ees 28 Ere Amen See 43 eee Ord Polks at-Home”... . 2... 2... see cn eee 44 Meeeeaerrom the Church... . 2... 1. cece ce cece eees 48 ETC CS yn 0 13 eg 49 Claims of the Bible and Church Considered................... 53 Pee ener Fencing. 22... ce eee eee ee eee: 55 I re) Sw ia we shee sv cbe ees 59 aD Sto, AA ae 2 ee ee 60 ee et IOUAT PTIZ0.7 ee sete teens 62 PIPE IVODGOT 8. ela en be aes eee esse en ene 64 The U. S. Constitution an Anti-Slavery Instrument... ....... 6 Meteo Win. TH. Seward... 05 o..6 oi eee eee ees 69 EE Se) So. cei a ps S Seb Kk ve eck pees ae 75 The Conflict between Freedom and Slavery.................. 77 EIEIO OU oe a. eee ens cows accu ss Be 8 The Conflict between Freedom and Slavery, Souk ceoheabe Saher sane &0 emeroama Prnit Gardens ..... 03.26.2006. secce ween pe. OO SIN 90 85 Deemer TOtieee TORLOM TIS sn a el wg eee eens ae 87 Father Robinson on the President’s Letter.................. 87 vi CONTENTS. PAGE Major General Fremont... ......+...0+-+1.+0 «a¢)=)ee ne 89 A Plea for Emancipation ... ......3..6 2. aw yes een 92 Letter to the President. 2.2... .. 5000040 oa eee 94 The Doom of Slavery .......... ©.) se ae oe oat een 96 Why not use Blacks as Soldiers?................ PPP HT SE 98 The President’s Policy we gies de ene hizo enee 98 Political Temperance Action... ...... <1. .a. «seine 100 Intemperance and Slavery................ “iia ..25 ee ase 103 Letter to Governor Seymour... ... . .... 1. sees eee 104 Governor Seymour and the Democracy.................40: .. 106 The.Sham Democracy :>........ -. 55. 0....3 See 111 A Democratic Victory. 2... 2. sw. 2. ¢., 5 ee 112 Rebellion the Offspring of Slavery and the ‘‘ Democracy.”..... 113 The Slave Democracy making its own History..,............. 114 Argument vs.. Séurrility 2... S220. ene ee 116 Tjetter to "Thurlow Weed... 2.2 2. 3. fe tae eee 116 Gen. Thomas on Arming Negroes. ... 0... 2ssse gee 118 The Church and “Reform....7. 2. aus ee ten PN 119 The Whisky Rebellion Again. .; .). J... 2) oe. eee eee 121 Letter to Governor Hunt:. >. 0.2... 2c oa oon 123 Universality of Intemperance: .. .... . 22. Seeue 124 Governor Seymour's Message... 2.. o5, ...) aa ee 125 The Excise’ Law. i). 02... 2s) ieee ge er 128 The True Remedy... 02... 2.24 .is uk 129 The Democratic Revenue... .. 5.2. ......5)5se 131 The Baltimore Nomination. ~... 7... 291. ee 131 A-Gentle Criticism. 00.00.59. 5... y. bake oe 135 Letter to Gerrit. Smith. 0.20200 62.0 ces nee 136 The Record of thigmDemocracy. ..)...:.. aoe ee 138 Our National Deliverance. ...77.. 2. oan ahh eee 140 The Elective Franchise for Women... 7.1.4...) eee 144 The Slave Power and Rum Power...s. ..1.:s+4.) snes ae 145 Letter to Hon. Horace Greeley. :.... 3.5 are 147 Who Should Exercise the Right of Suffrage?.................. 148 Now's the Time for Action. 73... ... 7... 153 The Ballot-Box the only Remedy.................-ssee+ee:e- 154 Only Waiting... 00... ss cc0s oe nee evs oe 155 eorwe ta WAC). i, To one who is watching the career of a Republic such as our own, it would be of interest to know what hidden forces lie beneath the visible operations of Society and Government. It would be of vast advantage to the politician, and especially to the political Re- former, to obtain a clear estimate of the quality and tone of thought among the laboring classes, those who send their ‘‘ Representa- tives” to the law-making Centers of the States and the Nation. The present work is a product from the hard hand of toil—a series of reflections flung out from the quick brain of an honest, sturdy, elastic, energetic, self-made Son of the Soil, one who, because he had the skill, however crude, to shape his thoughts into expression, became by so much a representative of the mental status and moral influence of a large class of intelligent but unlettered yeomanry throughout our country. But quite aside from any public interest which might attach to the contents of this little volume, we, to whom it is bequeathed, feel a private and individual interest such as those cannot who claim no filial relationship with its author. We have often seen the thoughtful brow and the swiftly moving pen when others were wrapt -in slumber ; we have heard the strong, terse, telling sentences, from childhood up, sent home to the minds and consciences of friends and neighbors, concerning giant social and political wrongs ; and, more than all, we have marked the silent heroism and cheerful courage with which our Father has met the severe trials and heavy burdens of his toilsome life day after day and year after year, con- Vili PREFACE. quering mighty difficulties and wielding a power for good on all who came within the circle of his influence. Thus nobly has our Mother also borne the weary weight of her earthly life. How difficult has been her path, how heavy her cares, how varied and fearful her responsibilities ; yet how greatly good and sweetly wise and tenderly loving has her true heart been during all these years. And now that the burden and heat of the day have passed, the beauty of holiness clothes her spirit as with a garment of light. Ina private letter dated December 15th, 1865, our Father writes: ‘‘Your dear Mother was seventy-one yesterday, and how well and smart she is, and O, how good she is in waiting upon, nursing, and comforting me. I never appreciated her more than now.” Looking toward the Sunset, our Father and Mother thus calmly await that ‘‘kind and welcome servant who unlocks with noiseless hand life’s flower-encircled door to show us those we love.” That the Life Beyond may shower upon them its heavenly benedictions, and fill all their declining days with the blessedness of peace, is the prayer of THEIR CHILDREN. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Iwas told by my parents, Nathan Robinson and Martha Demick, that my grandfather, James Robin- son, was from England, and that he furnished sup- plies for a portion of the Revolutionary army. I was. born in Durham, Connecticut, January 5th, 1792. My present wife, daughter of Theodore M. Fenn and Mary Dibble, was also born in the same State, in the town of Salisbury, December 14th, 1794. My parents removed to Sauquoit, Oneida county, New York, in 1794. When a boy I was quite fond of fishing, hunting, climbing trees, and of chopping them down—chopped down an acre when twelve years old—my father’s farm furnishing opportunities for these sports. A small stream ran through the woodland, whick extended the entire length of the farm, called Stony Brook—so full of speckled trout that one day in a few hours I caught with a hook.a peck of the wrig- glers. The woods, too, furnished small game to shoot and trap, such as foxes, woodchucks, squirrels, par- 10 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. tridges, pigeons, owls, and other birds, with trees saith to climb and to fell. On casting about to choose a business for life, I concluded to become a machinist, and, in commenc- ing, built a miniature forge on Sten Brook ; then anilyned that idea, and chose farming. I began steady labor on the farm, summers, when about twelve years old—attended district school, winters, till eighteen, when—during December and ' January—attended a select school on the west side of Sauquoit creek, living on the east side. It was taught by William Bacon, son of an old resident. There I learned all the grammar I got from books, studying for a week only, a small work by Alexander —studied and practiced surveying five weeks at the same school—got something of the art, so that, after removing here, practiced considerably in running roads and dividing lots. This terminated my school advantages. In Febru- ary, at the close of our school term with Bacon, joined three schoolmates and started on foot for the St. Lawrence country—went to Grand River, some distance above Montreal, to find employment in lum- bering and rafting ; failing, returned to Hamilton, a new town-site, situated twenty miles below Ogdens- burg, at the head of the first rapids on the St. Lawrence. Three of us engaged in rafting plank and staves, and when the raft was ready, went on it to Que- bec—myself as cook—returned home in October with | $105 in coin—my earnings besides expenses—-my father giving me an outfit of $12. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 11 I married, two years after returning, Anna Lewis, daughter of Ebenezer Lewis, a during-the-war’s-man in the Revolutionary army, in the cavalry service. Wil- ham Lewis, first Sheriff of Orleans county, was her brother. Sickness prevented us, wife and two children, _ from leaving for the ‘‘ Genesees” in the spring of 1813, as contemplated ; but on regaining health, about mid-summer, started with oxen, cart, dog, gun, a few household goods, money enough to bring us on, and $25 left to book a lot with ; were on the road ten days, arriving safely at Farewell’s Mills, now Claren- don Center, July 25, 1813. Pretty woody was it. then, abounding with bears, wolves, and deer, and interspersed with a few log-cabins. Rochester con- tained a number of these, one of which was built and inhabited by Hamlet Scranton, whose wife was my mother’s sister. The town of Murray, by which title the country was then designated, was a few years afterward subdivided into eight towns, and the county of Genesee into five counties, namely: Genesee, Orleans, Monroe, Livingston, and Wyoming. Our local habitation was in Clarendon, Orleans county, amidst undulating landscapes, and within hearing of “‘ the kind voice of streams.” Bereft of my companion in February, 1823, and left with six children, I married, the following Sep- _ tember, Damaris Fenn, widow of Joseph Walker, of _ Byron, with four children, making a family of ten, and the oldest but ten years of age. The seven liv- _ ing children by this marriage have distributed them- _ selves over a wide area, so that the “Old Folks at 12 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Home” have been living alone for several years, till within a few weeks, finding ourselves no longer able to do so, we invited a daughter and son-in-law to come and abide with us. So we are ‘ Only Waiting.” After laboring straight on from twelve to seventy- four, I was laid by a good, on the 18th of Beeuetg 1865, by hemorrhage of the kidneys. Mother Robinson and myself are each the eldest of ten children. Our united family has reached just double that number—a full score. Three of our children went to the “Summer-Land” im infancy ; one the first-born of Anna Lewis, two the offspring of my present union. Fifteen of the seventeen who. : arrived at adult years are living at this writing, son Curtis and daughter Martha, of my former marriage, having departed some years since, leaving families. The first article in the present volume was written for the Republican Advocate, at the outbreak of the Morgan excitement, which was most intense and widespread ; but I believe no very serious lawless violence was committed, though an attempt to de- stroy Miller’s printing- -offigh of Batavia, where the first article was printed, a a S Revelations of the secrets of the order were published, was made by | a band of Free Masons ; but the preparations for the | defense of the office were so timely and formidable that the attack was abandoned. The cause of this wild excitement was a belief in the minds of many that William Morgan, the author of the Revelations, was kidnapped at Batavia, and spirited around by Canandaigua, and from thence taken and sunk ‘by — Spt O° egg eee < AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 13 weights in the Niagara River. This was in Septem- ber, 1826. By reading a few of my articles published immediately subsequent, you may judge how much I valued Secret Societies. Nor has my mind changed. Among the men thrown upon the surface and brought to notice by this excitement, was one Thur- low Weed, who grew to be a most skillful and match- less political leader and intriguer. Further notice of him may be found in this work. -Thenceforward I continued to write for different papers on various topics—politics, religion, agricul- ture, temperance, &c., embracing the latter cause heartily, as I did every work I put hand to. I became a teetotaller in earnest, and my ‘ better half” with me, and still remain so. Having never formed a taste for strong drink, used but little tea or coffee, and no tobacco, (oh, the nasty stuff!) I had to sacrifice but little to become a total abstainer from the whole tribe of depletives. In due time we had a farm of one hundred acres cleared up and paid for, with tolerable buildings and fixtures, and a good orchard and garden. The pres- sure of cares of farm and family forbade my reading or writing much in the day-time, so, from 1827, the: date of the first article, to 1851, when we removed to Holley, I had written about one hundred articles by candle-light, after a hard day’s work, for I never did any light or easy ones. On seeing a number of pa- pers containing my productions lying around loose, our son Tracy, then a boy, suggested that they be placed in scrap-book form, and thus preserved, and I 14 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. followed the suggestion, filling a large-sized account- book, of which only a few articles and extracts will be found in this work. Since coming to Holley I have had more leisure, having only the garden to take care of—the products and manner of culture thereof being described in this work. Hence I have taken daylight more in which to read and write. I have three scrap- books filled, containing some two hundred and ninety printed numbers—matter enough, I should judge, for a volume of seven or eight hundred pages, of which a small portion will be found here. For instance, I find eight numbers under the caption of Farm AND FTRESIDE, three under that of THREE WEEKS IN AND AROUND New York, and six entitled THe CHurcH AND BisLE CONSIDERED, and only one of each will be inserted. Also four series of five numbers each, on different. topics, are omitted altogether. My first printed article will commence the book, and the last one, written since I did my last day’s work, and pub- lished in the State League, will close it. Hach extract, in order to be distinguished from entire pro- ductions, will invariably be closed with a period and dash, thus.— 3 Meantime, other little services which I was called upon to render took time and labor, such as serving the town of Clarendon in a number of petty offices, acting as Supervisor from 1827, for three years, &c. Sundays for many years we devoted to going five miles to a close-communion Baptist church to which we belonged. After a time I was suspended for being shaky on close-communion ; joined the Free- AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 15 will Baptist Church, and my letter of withdrawal therefrom will be found in, this book. I now belong to no church organization, but run my own alone ! We had one son, five grandsons, and a grand- son-in-Jaw in the Union army during the great Rebel- lion. The last, Cyrus Kerts, made the grand tour with Sherman’s gallant army. Most of these served during the war, and all came out alive, though one of them, Walker Ingersoll, son of our daughter, Sarah Ingersoll Dean, was badly wounded in the breast—rebel bullet still in him—in defense of the gunboat Underwriter ; was taken prisoner and lodged in a succession of southern prison-hells—Salisbury, Goldsborough, Libby, and for five months in that dreadful slaughter-pen, Andersonville. We had also fifteen nephews in the Union ranks, besides numer- ous remoter relatives. Four of the fifteen perished in the strife. Richard Robinson, son of my brother Charles, died in hospital ; Henry A. Spencer, son-in- law of my sister Harriet, died a prisoner in Salisbury ; Levi Preston, adopted son of my sister Content, died of disease contracted in camp ; and Newell Warren, son of Elder A. Warren and my sister Martha, died by one of the fearful casualties of war. Belonging to the Heavy Artillery, and accidentally falling from his seat while the corps was in rapid motion, he was crushed to death by the passing train. Henry Wil- cox, a son of sister Harriet, who entered the service at an early day, is missing, but may still survive in some locality to us unknown. My wife’s sister, Sarah Fenn Brintnall, had two sons in the army, one of 16 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. whom was shot through the jaw by a rebel bullet, tearing away the teeth. Andrew J. Williams, a nephew, by marriage, of our daughter Mary, served faithfully through the war, being twice severely wounded, and losing two brothers in the service. I was for four months a private in the war of 1812, and obtained an honorable discharge after the sortie battle of Fort Erie, September 14th, 1814, in which I participated, and which closed the war on this frontier. Mine has been a wonderful age for inventions and discoveries—the steam-power age. Within fifty years, Railroads, Telegraphs, Photographs, Steamships, Steam Mills, Iron-clads, Iron Plows, Power Looms, Cotton Gins, Threshing Machines, Planters, Mow- ers, Reapers, Revolving Rakes, and Oil Wells have sprung into existence, and the crowning work of all is the abolishment of American Slavery ! CHAUNCEY RoBInson. Hotty, N. Y., Oct. 15, 1865. ON PATHER ROBINSON’S mePAP-BOO K. ANTI-MASONRY. May 30, 1827. [The following address and resolution of the Corresponding Committee of the town of Clarendon, Orleans Co., N. Y., published in the Batavia Republican Advocate, were prepared by the chairman, Chauncey Robinson.] FELLOW CITIZENS: In vain have we looked to the halls of the Legislature for provisions to avert the impending storm which now hangs heavily over our heads, but our com- plaints are treated by a majority of that body “like the capricious squalls of a child who knows not whether it is aggrieved or no.’ We are told daily by those acting under Masonic influence, that our reason has departed us; that the people are led on by wild fanatics. that visionary pro- jects occupy our brain. Again we are told it is an office- seeking business ;—curious novelty, that three-fourths of the toil-worn sons of the West should all of a sudden leave their plows, and follow some chimerical fanatic to hunt for office. Again, we are told it is all a bugbear about Morgan’s being kidnapped and murdered ; he has only gone off and secreted himself in order that he and his associates may speculate out of his book. 'The same language is re-echoed from the floor of the Assembly. This flimsy story, which no rational man who has informed himself on this subject can for a mo- ment believe, and which is worn threadbare, is now new- vamped by the legislative debate, but the story is a mere ~ 18 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. impositicn, in order, if possible, to render this dark transac- tion more dark. But we will admit that all is a speculation, and on what better ground does the subject rest, or what less need is there of legislative interference, or in what better shape does the fraternity present itself to public view? Say it is a money speculation, and who is engaged in it? Masons extensively. And what is the moving cause? Masonry ! If Masonry, then, is of so damnable a nature as to cause and induce its members to speculate upon the peace of commu- nity, as to shake the very foundations of civil government, and tear society to its center, then, then is it time speedily for all good men, Masons or anti-Masons, to make a univer- sal effort, and chase the huge monster from within our borders. Fellow citizens, are you prepared for the Masonic : yoke? If not, wake, then, your sleeping energies—rise in the majesty of a sovereign people proud of their rights, and vindicate the laws of the land, regardless of the divine right of kings, and manifest to the world that we are not a giddy multitude, prepared to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, but are capable of self-government. Where is Morgan? has been echoed and re-echoed by thousands and tens of thousands, and let us again press the inquiry with redoubled energies—what has become of him ? Is he murdered, as is generally believed? If not, where is he ? These reasonable interrogations Masons are abundantly able to answer. ‘To arrest, then, the just indignation of an insulted community, you will without the least self-evasion or mental reservation, give the information desired. We demand at your hands a full development of this dark mys- tery. Unravel the dubious transaction, and if it is a foul speculation, prove it so to the world. If the man is mur- dered, give the public the particulars of his fate, hand over the culprits to the constituted authorities of the land, and save yourselves and your tottering fabric from eternal in- famy. If there be any of the order who are not participa- tors in the diabolical transaction, (which we charitably hope there are many,) come out from among them and be ye separate, that the rewards of the guilty may be no longer visited upon the jnnocent. Our neighbors are invited to co- ANTI-MASONRY. 19 operate with us in these reasonable demands upon the fra- ternity, that we may speak with a voice that shall be heard. Trifle no longer with our feelings and our fears; the sen- timents which animate our bosoms are of no mean kind ; they are such as gave a nation birth and an exalted station among the empires of the earth ;—bright index to point en- thralled millions to freedom and to happiness. “ No government can nor will long endure, which does not protect the rights of its subjects.” These are expres- sions of the immortal Washington; and by his last legacy to the people of this nation we are warned to beware of all secret societies. ‘To this advice let us cheerfully acquiesce, and the rising generation are incited to look steadfastly to these parental admonitions, that when the present genera- tion shall be urged from the stage of action by the propel- ling power of nature, and the space now occupied by your fathers shall be possessed by yourselves, you may repose in security beneath the lofty pillars of your happy constitu- tion, fearless of molestation from secret internal foes. Therefore, Resolved, That much is due to the investigating com- mittee for their prompt and energetic endeavors to unravel the dark and mysterious fate of the unfortunate Morgan, and we enjoin it upon them to push the investigation with vigor, and if pecuniary aid is required, one of the committee whose business it is, will communicate information to the chairman of the committee of this town, that subscriptions may be opened for that purpose. It is further suggested that a general convention of the corresponding committees of the several towns be held at a time and place to be designated by the general committee. 20 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. A PROHIBITORY LIQUOR LAW. 1830. - [From the Orleans Telegraph.] A coroner’s inquest was held in the town of Clarendon, on the 27th ult., over the body of Elijah Dolly, who ap- peared, on examination, to have died in a fit of intoxication in the bar-room of Chester Lusk.—C. Rosinson, Coroner. Three days previous, the wife of a Mr. Annis was buried in an adjoining neighborhood, who came to her end in the most horrible manner, under the influence of that overflow- ing scourge—intemperance—which is deluging this fair land. The particulars of this awful event, as near as I have been able to learn, are these: The wife, being intoxicated, fell into the fire, from which she was unable to extricate herself The husband undertook to drag her out, but being himself drunken, fell in likewise. With some difficulty, the man got out of the fire, and then poured water into the embers in order to check the flames which were surrounding his intox- icated wife, which only served to heap upon her the hot embers on the hearth, and the poor victim was literally roasted, and in a few days expired. It is with extreme anguish of mind that I have witnessed for many years the appalling evil of intemperance, which, like a mighty tempest, has been sweeping through our land, spreading terror and devastation in its hithefto resistless train. The efforts which are making, and the considerable suc- cess attendant thereupon, seem, however, to open a ray of hope that at some day the fell destroyer will be banished from our happy land. Notwithstanding the apparent suc- cess which attends the great efforts that are making, yet I am constrained to conclude that the ends attained fall far short of the mighty means made use of. ; If the majority of the people of this commonwealth would view the evil in its true light, the disease might be cured at once; the monster might be slain at a blow. Should a mad dog infest your streets, you would chain or destroy the infuriated animal. Should any person be found vending ratsbane for a beverage, you would think him guilty A PROHIBITORY LIQUOR LAW. 21 of manslaughter, at least, and you would not think it arbi- trary to provide laws for the suppression of the evil, if none already existed. That the use of ardent spirits, in any quantity whatever, (that is, for a drink,) is a moral and phy- sical evil, is an undeniable fact. Strike off all the evil which its use engenders, and it produces not the least possible good. ‘Temperate drinkers are much better without any. Under these considerations, I would ask the candid reader, why not strike, and destroy the murderer at a blow? Why not strike at the root of the evil? When noxious weeds grow in your gardens, the easiest and most effectual way to get rid of them is to dig them up by the roots. The sur- geon, to cure a wound, first heals the bottom. It would be the hight of folly to cry fire! fire! and suffer the incendiary to run loose and thrust his torch into all the dwellings of the city. Thus, while great and mighty efforts are making to stop the evil of intemperance, there are at least half a dozen in every town licensed by authority to spread the contagion. I have now arrived at a point, and the reader will readily anticipate the conclusion. But, say you, it would be an ar- bitrary stretch of legislative power to pass a law that no person, except for medical purposes, shall be licensed to vend the kind of poison called Alcohol ? If it be not arbitrary to pass laws td suppress profane swearing, sabbath-breaking, raffling, and other minor evils, then surely laws for the suppression of the greatest evil that exists among us, or rather the root of all evil, is not. Let the Congress or Legislature, then, make laws with sufficient penalties to prohibit all persons vending ardent spirits, instead of licensing them to do so, and the great work is at once accomplished. : 22, FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. ANTI-MASONRY. Dec. 19, 1832. {From the Orleans American. ]} A fearful crisis has arrived in our political history. A few more rolling suns and all may be lost! A short period, and our most cherished institutions, and the lights which have been thereby kindled among the nations of the earth, and all that by freemen is held most dear, may be forever blotted out! And are these fears well founded? If so, is there a patriot, is there a true lover of his country, who can speak a single word, that will not stand up in defense of her expiring institutions 4 Let us for a moinent glance at what I conceive to be some of the most prominent causes of these alarms. It is now six years since a daring and high-handed violation of our laws was committed by members of a secret and power- ful combination; so much so, that, notwithstanding the unceasing efforts of a highly incensed community, aided by the strong arm of the law, combined with the Legislative and Executive departments, all proving too weak and pow- erless to reach the dark retreats of that combination, they have violated the laws, and they have triumphed over them! ~ The wicked combination is still powerful and undissolved. Nor is this all of the picture. Although our citi- zens have been duly and authentically informed of the alarming facts referred to, that such a combination did exist among us, which had the will to violate the laws, and the power to prostrate their healthful and legitimate operations, still, after all the light that has been thrown upon the sub- ject; after all the disrepute the laws, the Legislature and the Executive have fallen into, by the exhibition of their weakness when put in contact with the laws and practices of Freemasonry; after it was ascertained that most of the offices of Government were held by members of the society, they are still left in quiet possession of them. They yet have the skill and the power to hold the reins of Govern- ment, and are left to administer, or rather mal-administer, the laws over which they have so often triumphed. ‘They have conspired against the Government, yet the people suffer them still to administer it. TARIFF AND NATIONAL BANE. 23 Again: in administering the Government, its firmest pil- lars are beginning to totter. Not only in this great State are the Judiciary and the laws set at defiance, but the Su- preme Court, the highest judicial tribunal in the nation, is shorn of its honor, and State after State is suffered to break loose from its solemn obligations, and run lawless upon the Federal Government. American citizens are shut up with felons in: prisons and penitentiaries, for no crime known to the laws. Dissolution, bloodshed and carnage, desolation and horror, fire-brands and death, stare us in the face ! Is there, then, no cause of alarm? Shall those who pro- fess to be friends of their country forsake her in the hour of her peril? God forbid! Shall the professed asserters of the “supremacy of the laws ” fold their arms in indifference, while pillar after pillar is prostrated, and they themselves sink beneath their crumbling ruins ? C. Rosrnson. a TARIFF AND NATIONAL BANK. 1836. [From the Orleans American. ] To the Hon. AuFRED Baxscocs, (then Member of Congress.) Dear Sir: The world has witnessed excitements in all ages; but, perhaps, never more than in this country and in our time. Excitements many times produce astonishing re- sults; but excitement in any cause, however good, will have its reaction, and fall back on principle and men of principle for its support. It has been so with the temperance cause, and we need not be surprised if it should be so again; it has been so in the political history of our country, and most em- phatically may it not be said that the spirit and genius of our Government, and the prosperity, happiness, and even the political existence of the country, has fallen back on principle and men of principle. And now, sir, the great question is to be settled, whether or not there is weight of character, of numbers, and of moral influence sufficient to sustain our peculiar institutions ? or whether the very hands 24 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. that have built up shall prove the architects of their own destruction ? | I fear, unless there is a great change in public sentiment, relative to some of the leading measures of the country, that the latter question will receive a most decisive affirmative. In 1833, the country had reached a very high summit of prosperity, altogether unknown in its history hitherto. In 1816, the country was in a state of perfect prostration in all its departments, and, in every sense of the word, we were then much in the condition that we are now. Under the administration of Madison, or rather in the last half of that administration—1816—the people, the Congress, and the President, came to the conclusion that a Tariff and a Bank would enable the country to repair the ruéns and liquidate the debts of two wars, and likewise obviate the disastrous consequences arising from the refusal or neglect of this same administration, at a former period, to re-establish a Bank of ‘the United States. Undoubted experience has shown most triumphantly that that conclusion was quite rational. The philosopher would say that like causes produce like effects. And now, when we find ourselves in the self-same predicament, as to the adverse circumstances of the country and Government, why, after “unsettling the fixed order of things,” and having exhausted every expedient that human ingenuity could devise, suffering intensely from year to year, and waxing worse and worse daily—why, I say, do not a people who clamor stoutly of their own capacity for self- government go back and take up old and tried measures ? Is it anything but the madness of party delirium that hinders? Is it not by the mist of high-sounding party names that many are led away captive, and become blind to their dearest interests and the welfare and prosperity of the country ? But the idea of a Bank, I suppose, is out of the question. The old hero of New Orleans told the good people of America that the Bank was an awful, great monster, devouring his millions at a meal! No one could tell why it was so, but General Jackson said it was so, and that was enough; and after it had had an apparently harmless existence of forty years or more—proving of immense value to the country— the old Roman said it must go down, and down it went, and TARIFF AND NATIONAL BANK. 25: the people all cried a long AMEN. Van and John, the footsteppers, Say so, too, and what the people won’t do to perpetuate their own degradation and ruin, the veto must; and the Democracy, with up-caps, cry louder still—huzza, the DEspoT against the people—the minority against the majority | In i816, the national debt was about one hundred and twenty-seven millions, including the Louisiana purchase. The payment of this large sum, with interest, must be pro- vided for. Provisions for defraying the ordinary expenses of Government, amounting to the snug sum of $231,889,- 529 17—or more than thirteen and a half millions a year, from 1817 to 1833, inclusive—must also be made, amount- ing, in principal and interest, to more than four hundred million dollars. And sir, how was this to be done? How were these mil- lions to be heaped together? How were they? Answer: By the avails of duties on imports, the proceeds of the pub- lic lands, aided by a Bank of the United States to transact the business. And these millions were piled up and rolled together so easy, that not a citizen of the whole Union knew how it was done; that is, no one felt the least incon- venience or burden on account of it. Now if this is a tax on the consumer—as some pretend by the tarifi—or the Bank such a gormandizer, I pray you, sir, with all Congress assembled, together with President Tyler, to tax and devour us just so again; but if the acting President, having the veto power at his command, and a will to use or abuse it—to control the action of Congress, and thwart the will and wants of the people themselves—I say, if «his Majesty ” will not grant us a Bank, let us take per- haps the only thing that he will give us, and try his exche- quer—or his Bank, under that title, founded on public or private deposits—and submit, for the time being, to the dic- tates of the one-man power, however humiliating and incon- sistent it may seem to the admirers of a free representative Government, knowing that this monarchial feature belongs to our code, and be patient, as good citizens, until the odious feature may be constitutionally “ expunged.” Under this course of policy not only the Government got along swimmingly, but the States and the people mounted 96 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. rapidly beyond all precedent in the scale of prosperity and greatness; and such were the outpourings of the rivers of wealth under this system, that, on the final extinguishment of ihe national debt, it was found necessary to open new channels to carry off the surplus, and hence the distribution of the surplus revenue among the States. — And now, sir, how has it always been with us in the ab- sence of this policy? How isitnow! To these inquiries I need make no reply. The Government itself is on the verge of bankruptcy ; every department of industry or business, and every citizen, sees and feels the withering blight that is brooding over the country, in the absence and in the want of this great and cardinal, and, till the unfortunate reign of Andrew Jackson, the seztled policy of the Government. I will close by quoting a sentence from Washington’s farewell address—though short, yet of momentous import : ‘‘No Government can long endure, that does not protect the rights and interests of its subjects.” Sir, will this Government longer delay to pass laws for the better protection of the rights and interests of this peo- ple? or, if passed, shall we be left in constant suspense, arising from distrust in their stability? If so, then is our fate inevitable; and the last lamp of liberty must soon go out—the last hope of the world expire. Accept, sir, assurances of my sincere regard. : A CONSTITUENT. LAW AND LAW BOOKS. March 19, 1846. To THE EpDITor oF THE Memoria: I learn from | your last number, (for I am a learner in these matters,) that a man to become a ripe lawyer, must swallow mentally and digest about a thousand law books /—most of them pretty formidable ones, too. Now, sir, I propose that all this huge mass of knight-errantry be gathered into a capacious store- house, where there are plenty of razs, and that a number of citizens be selected, (not to exceed seventy,) of good common sense, understanding the simple principles of right and wrong TO TEMPERANCE MEN. oT —to meet, say, at the city of Albany—to compilea single book, to contain a criminal and civil code; said book not to exceed in dimensions that containing our moral code, and prefaced by the last few passages of the 12th chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, written out in golden capitals—thus : 1. “RECOMPENSE TO NO MAN EVIL FOR EVIL. PROVIDE THINGS HONEST IN THE SIGHT OF ALL MEN. 2. “IF IT BE POSSIBLE, AS MUCH AS LIETH IN YOU, LIVE PEACEABLY WITH ALL MEN. 38. “IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER, FEED HIM; IF HE THIRST, GIVE HIM DRINK: FOR IN SO DOING THOU SHALT HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD. 4. “BE NOT OVERCOME OF EVIL, BUT OVER- COME EVIL WITH GOOD.” Yours, | LAYMAN. TO TEMPERANCE MEN. Sept. 15, 184%. [From the Contributor.] Bro. Grosvenor: I have frequently asked myself, in the last few months, whether the trial of ’46 was to be the last grand effort to suppress the sale of intoxicating drinks in the State of New York, by law? ‘The answer has involun- tarily come up in my own soul, God forbid, No! I cannot think that the terrible voice of 65,000 majority against this mischievous trade shall be heard of nomore. ‘The proceedings of the recent State Temperance Convention, and the sensible article of H. N. Howland, published in the Contributor of the 8th Sept. inst., has somewhat cleared up my misgivings. Gambling, extortion and other evils have been checked by adequate laws. ‘The tables of the money-changers were upset the first day, by the effectual usury law. So might the tables of the rumsellers be overturned, and this giant evil suppressed just as edsily. It is due the vast majority of “no sale men” that such a law be forthcoming. ‘lhe law of 1846 was a flat concern. It was no better than a pop-gun to kill a éeger. ~ 28 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. As a kind of feeler, I would suggest, through your excel- lent paper, a plan of a law which, I think, if enacted, would be a match to the evil. Let its provisions be such that any quantity of intoxicating drink, small or great, that shall be sold by one person to another to be drunk, or as a drink or beverage, become a perpetual debt against the vender—if paid for by the purchaser at the time of purchase—liable to be sued for by himself, or the wife of said purchaser, or any other person, and recover double the amount with double costs. ‘This lability to extend at least twenty-five years, if the purchase be made on credit, and not collectable at all. Likewise, let suitable penalties lie against the vender. Per- haps the standing penal enactments are sufficient. Provide suitable protection for those who engage in its sale for proper objects, medicinal, the arts, &c.; repeal all laws and parts of laws conflicting with these provisions, and let all sell who choose to under this regulation, and, in my humble opinion, the business of rum-selling would soon cease, and be numbered with the lottery and usury business, and, pro- bably, with betting on elections, as a thing that was. C. Rosinson. LICENSE SYSTEM AND LIQUOR TRAFFIC. August, 1851. [From the Temperance Journal. ] Could I wield the pen of a ready writer, I would attempt to describe somewhat minutely this vast system and busi- ness, and its horrid consequences upon the inhabitants of the ~ United States. But I am not vain enough to suppose I have knowledge, ingenuity, or imagination, either to elabo- rate even a tithe of the murderous system, or to paint its terrible results. But, Mr. Editor, with your indulgence we will take a glance at the “beast.” First, then, to begin at his head and horns. The General Government has so systematized the business, as to protect and encourage the introduction from abroad, the streams of liquid death at all points of our extended country accessible by water, besides encouraging its manufacture and sale in ee To. 7 LICENSE SYSTEM AND LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 29 vast quantities inland. And for what purpose? What good does it do? What hasitever done? Who cantell? None! During the twenty-five or thirty years that the temperance cause has been in progress, no responsible man in this coun- try, or in any other country, has dared to attempt to prove that intoxicating drinks are ever beneficial to men in health. True, some have tried to defend the license system, under pretense that it would restrict and limit the evils arising from its otherwise freer sale and use, and thus, in this hypo- critical, second-hand form, defend the drinking customs of the day. No person claiming common sense has ever dared to meet the naked question, and attempt a manly affirmation, nor can any one successfully. There is not a redeeming trait about it. It is evil, and nothing else. Who dare deny it? Why, then, we repeat, is it thus introduced and its introduction and its manufacture and use encouraged and protected by laws, both of Congress and the State governments? Why, revenue to defray the expenses of governments—aye, yes, to pamper to a vitiated taste? Here it is, reader, in these two words, money and appetite. If by the introduction of the Asiatic cholera, money could be made and revenue derived from it, would Government give license? Oh no! it would not taste right—would not be exhilarating—it kills too quick. I have sometimes thought that the liquor gamesters would have to continue to increase the drugging process of the filthy poison, so that a dram would kill a person as quick as the cholera, ere they would take warning. If the introduction of that terrific malady, cholera, could be successfully legislated against, how quickly would it be done! Buta greater than cholera is here. If cholera slays its thousands, strong drink does its millions. Why, then, be so partial to the one, compared to which the other is but a drop in the bucket? None but a superhuman being can foot up the sum of the wails and the woes caused by this. accursed system; the light and retributions of eternity can only unfold them. Second. In answer to these inquiries, Mr. Gough would have it that “ten out of twelve have part of the bacon.” This, in my view, is the only rational answer why licenses are granted, and the manufacture continued. About in this 30 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. proportion are we receiving the price in some form, else why do not the Governments and the people set themselves religiously and vigorously at work to rid themselves of so great a plague? Why? the Government wants money, and some of its members like to crack a bottle of champagne, or take a suck of good old rum and sugar. Oh, yes; and perhaps the more sober ones have an interest in another direction. To agitate this question now, might disturb the harmony of ow party, and possibly distract it; besides, the rumsellers can wield a pretty strong influence at a pending, and, perhaps, to me, important election. So we had better “keep dark,” and thus take part of the prize; and as go the leaders, so go the masses. Farmers can furnish the raw material to the distiller and brewer, for their share, and perhaps a few of them are still keeping up the old custom of carrying a jug of the “ critter” into the field, to help them on with haying and harvesting. But some Christians think the cause of temperance too hackneyed and worn out, and should the minister happen to broach the subject, especially on the Lord’s day, why ‘“he’d better preach relzgion.” Besides, we fear that party poli- tics, too, prevent church members, in many cases, from acting efficiently ; and sometimes I am led to think that rum and rum money have an influence on some others, while multi- tudes fold their arms and say, “ Let’s see how the Wash- ingtonians, Sons, Daughters, Cadets, Templars, and Recha- bites will fix it;’? while rumsellers and liquor and beer peddlers want the profits of the sale. Excise Boards, too, in city and town, want the fee for granting licenses; besides, some of their number have a friend to serve, or indeed, per- haps, a peculiar thirst to quench. Noris thisall; the whole system works admirably. ‘The fruits of the licensed traffic are displayed in brawls, rows and riots, so members of the board—some of them, at least, who are police officers and pettifoggers—have a deep interest in the matter. Poor-houses, poor-masters, turnkeys, clerks, lawyers, courts and jurors, officers of the State prisons, lunatic asy- lums and hangmen have more business to transact, and receive more fees from this source alone, than from all others combined. And the treasurers have more money to pay out, and tax-payers to pay in, to support this beautiful system, than for everything else of a public nature. THE TRAFFIC AT HOME. 31 Thus it seems that almost all have part of the bacon, in selling, drinking, revenue, fees, or in some form, except the wretched wife and children of the drunkard, and the tax- payer. Perhaps, for the loss of his share, he may console himself with the reflection that he has been able to furnish some of the raw material to the manufacturer, in exchange for the liquor, and has not turned traitor by going over to the other party to vote for some candidate whom he believes is a better man. Reader, how long will you suffer under this state of things, and not make a more vigorous, manly effort to rid yourself and country from it? ‘Though the State and national Gov- ernment are both against you, and multitudes of the people are willing to have it so, thousands decidedly against a change which renders the warfare arduous and vet difficult, the conquest, when achieved, will be the more brilliant. Ck. THE TRAFFIC AT HOME. August 15, 1851. [From the Temperance Journal.] DEAR FATHER CHIPMAN: In my last I wandered some- what over the United States, but I am inclined now to talk a little about home matters. Well, in this little town of Murray, not ‘seven by nine,” but six miles square only, we have nzneteen licenses—so I am told by one of the Board—all doing a fair business, I Suppose; and, as though this was not enough to accommo- date the good people with drink this hot weather, there are some volunteers among them, dry goods merchants, and other kind souls. Old Murray against the world! The banner town, this! JI hear it remarked, though, that we are not quite as well off as they are in Buffalo, after all; it is said that the shoemakers keep and sell the good creature there. The shoemakers here, I believe, do not trade in strong drinks : so I have heard it said since I came here, by a gen- tleman who would not lie about such small matters. Still, there are some good temperance men left in Holley, but pretty stupid are they. We are trying to spur them up, and they may show signs of life after a season. C. R. 32 - FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. THE RUM-SELLING CONSPIRATORS. October 20, 1851. Mr. Epiror: Conspiracies have been formed against the interests of men in all ages, and none less so, perhaps, than in our own times. The “ gun-powder plot” against the Parliament of Great Britain, Arnold’s and Run’s Con- spiracy, &c., and recently the Michigan Conspiracy, all planned to gratify avarice or revenge. But all these, and — all the treasonable plots ever instigated by man, are but dust in the balance compared te the grand Rumsellers’ Con- spiracy. ‘The former are confined to small localities, involv- ing life and property, but to a limited extent, whereas this stupendous liquor-dealers’ conspiracy involves, not only property and life, but character and influence, temporal and eternal destinies of a large proportion of the human race ; and any means, however reprehensible or villainous, are re- sorted to, to corrupt and destroy mankind for gain. No law is binding upon them more than upon pirates at sea, or freebooters on the ljand—perfectly unscrupulous as to means, only that they get the money.— THE DESOLATIONS OF RUM. Of the scourges which have heretofore desolated, and are now afflicting our common country, no one can be named which bears rivalship with the use of intoxicating liquors. The history of the world coincides with the observations of every ingenuous and philosophic mind in fully attesting the fact, that their use, as a beverage, by persons in health, is ever pernicious, never beneficial; and that, with few excep- tions, the individual habitually using them soon becomes a drunkard. ‘The use of such liquors, as a beverage, is, therefore, intemperance; and he who speaks of their moder- ate or temperate use, abuses reason, despises truth, and perverts language. Without a single redeeming trait, their sole and entire aim is to ruin and destroy the human species. ‘They begin their work by changing man into a brute, continue it by THE DESOLATIONS OF RUM. 33 transforming him into a monster, and abandon him only when he has ceased to breathe. However viewed, and wherever found, intemperance, in its beginning, its progress, and its end, is everywhere marked by desolation and woe. Alcohol, both in name and in truth, is the poison of our species. Chemical analysis and physiological experiment have established beyond controversy, that alcohol received into the stomach remains unchanged, unassimilated; and, as such, travels with the blood through the various arteries, veins and organs of the system, not as blood, nor its fit com- panion, but as a murderous associate, a treacherous high- wayman, charged with poison, and commissioned to destroy. In its journey round, it feeds upon the liver, corrodes the lungs, burns the stomach, ruins the appetite, impairs diges- tion, discolors and vitiates the blood, defiles the breath, crim- sons the nose, parches the lips, blisters the tongue, scalds the throat, husks the voice, bloats the face, dims the eye, wastes the muscles, palsies the limbs, deranges the nerves, and consumes the heart; and, as though its warrant was not yet fully executed, a detached portion of it aims at the head, breaks through its delicate vessels, crowds out reason, and fears not to profane divinity’s earthly temple. What wonder, then, that the spirit drinker is a maniac. But even now its baneful work is hardly begun. Having thus undermined the health and prepared the system for the ravages of disease, it strikes at the moral and intellec- tual powers of man. It enfeebles the understanding, impairs the judgment, effaces the memory, extinguishes sensibility, pollutes the imagination, depraves taste, stupefies conscience, annihilates honor, prostrates self-respect, debases the social affections, sours the disposition, inflames the wicked passions, dethrones reason, and contaminates the heart; and thus quenches rational life and blots out the moral image of Deity’s handiwork. Why, therefore, must the intemperate man become a human fiend? Who is safe where be is ? And yet the traffic is tolerated. ‘The use of intoxicating drinks is continued. Its march of ruin is onward. Still, it reaches abroad to others, invades the family circle, and spreads woe and sorrow all around it. It cuts down youth in its vigor, manhood in its strength, and age in its weak- ness. It breaks a father’s heart, bereaves a doting mother, 34 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. extinguishes the natural affections, crazes conjugal love, blots out filial attachment, blights parental hope, and brings down mourning age in sorrow to the grave. It produces weakness, not strength; sickness, not health; death, not life. It makes wives widows; children, orphans; fathers, fiends, and it constitutes all of them paupers and beggars. It hails fevers, feeds rheumatism, nurses gout, welcomes © epidemic, invites the cholera, imports pestilence, and em- braces consumption. It fills the land with idleness, poverty, disease and crime. It supplies your jails, your alms-houses and your asylums. It engenders controversy, fosters quar- rels, and cherishes riots. It contemns law, spurns order, and promotes tumults and mobs. It crowds your peniten- tiaries, and furnishes the victims for the gallows. It is the life-blood cf the gambler, the aliment of the counterfeiter, the prop of the highwayman, and the support of the midnight incendiary. It countenances the liar, respects the thief, and esteems the blasphemer. It violates obligations, reverences fraud, and honors infamy. It defames benevolence, hates love, accuses virtue, and slandersinnocence. It incites the father - to butcher his offspring, helps the husband to massacre his wife, and aids the child to grind his parricidal axe. It burns up man, consumes woman, detests life, curses God, and despises heaven. It suborns witnesses, nurses perjury, defiles the jury-box, and stains the judicial ermine. It bribes votes, disqualifies voters, corrupts elections, pollutes our institutions, and en- dangers our Government. It degrades the citizen, debases the legislator, dishonors the statesman, and disarms the patriot. It brings shame, not honor; terror, not safety ; despair, not hope; misery, not happiness ; and now, as with the malevolence of a fiend, it calmly surveys its frightful desolation. Still insatiate, it poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins morals, blights confidence, contaminates reputation, and wipes out manly honor; then it curses the world, and laughs at the ruin it has wrought. Humanity now asks, and patriotism and philanthrophy earnestly inquire, shall it, must it continue longer in our free but abused country ? Ifso, why? What good has it done ? What good can it effect ? Whom can it benefit? And how ? e Yr Ne — mers - rs $e" a PROFITS OF A SMALL FARM. 35 Against this hydra of intemperance the best efforts of the virtuous, the benevolent and the patriotic have for years been arrayed. Let all who know its pernicious effects steadily direct their influence and their efforts to remove it - from the land. C. R. PROFITS OF A SMALL FARM. Kebruary 19, 1856. {From the Albany Courier and Journal.] Mr. Eniror—S?r: Perhaps if the following statement was placed on your agricultural page, it might inter est some of your readers. I am induced to make it by reading of an extraordinary product from a few rods of ground, contained in your paper of Feb. 2d, by Robert Arthurs, Pitt town- ship, Pa., thrown out as a kind of challenge by the Western Agriculturalist, Pittsburgh. My statement is made, not so much to beat that of Mr. Arthurs, which, perhaps, I could not do, but more to give my testimony to what may be raised on a given area of earth’s surface, and to show how very little is now pro- duced, to what might be, for the sustenance of its inhabit- ants. I have in my “house lot,” or garden, ninety rods under cultivation. I quit farming and field labor to come on to _it at the age of sixty, four years since, and have been able, in that time, to pretty thoroughly kill out the weeds which were growing luxuriantly, for the ground is naturally good —none better in this region—and its increase in the pro- duct of vegetables has been gaining yearly till this year, or last summer, and probably has now attained its maximum. I shall make no reckoning of fruit, because peaches and plums were a perfect failure here last season, though there are on the place fifteen bearing peach trees, which have _ before produced abundantly, nine plum trees, which have _ done the same. Besides, there are grape-vines, apple, _ pear, cherry and quince trees, and not less than four bush- _ els of currants grown this year, which, at the price set by _ Mr. A., would amount to $7 68; of pears and quinces, /.some, probably enough, with a few quarts of goose and _ raspberries, to make $10 in fruit. 36 FATHER ROBINSON'S SCRAP-BOOK. Here is the product in vegetables: 150 bushels -onions, 3)... ..c.c0 7. eee 625 cts. $93 75 25° do | early potatoes’, eee eee $1 00 25 00 12 bbls: cucumber pickles 2.7 >. sae 3 25 39 00 30 bushels English turnips............... 25 7 50 10 ‘do French....> 28.2.2 ee 37 3 70 200 lids. cabbage, 0.5.2 aes > ae Jt 8 00 20 bushels carrots... 9 (ic wena eee 25 5 00 Produce of hot beds ...... ee 5 00 3 bushels tomatoes. ...,.0..%s.. 08 eee 1 00 3 00 1. do beans»... os" 2745.5. eee 2 00 2) do ‘sweet comme: (. a... ee 1 00 2 00 2° “do “peas... erences 5, Ook ce ee 1 00 2 00 2. do. squash 2.3 .Gbce poet ee 1 00 2 00 200 hds. lettuce ~....:2c.isn ba ae oe 1 2 00 5 bushels beets, .=...5,. 0: «eee 50 2 50 1 bed parsneps, 15x4 feet extended, set. . 1 50 1 do vegetable oysters................. 1 00 2 lbs. dried sage: a... 0...) ae ee 50 1 00 ldo beet, carrot, parsnep and lettuce seed of each...) 25) sa eee 2 00 Amounting t0,, 2... .05. ca as cog tie eo oan ne ae $207 95 Which, if you add $10 for fruit, would make a total of...... $217 95 Or $2 42 per square rod, or $387 20 per acre. C. Rosinson. FEDERALISM vs. DEMOCRACY. June 16, 1856. [From the Orleans American. ] S. A. ANpDREws—Dear Sir: In your issue of June 12th, you remark concerning the meeting at the Court- house on the 7th inst., that the “old federalists, now sham democrats, were not at all represented;’’ and why should they be? These plantation exhibitions are strictly demo- cratic, and these sham democrats approve them; hence they would be out of place at such a meeting. I hope, sir, no editor, or other person, will ever again slander the old federalists, and the federal party, by a compar- ison with the present democracy and the democratic party. They never ought to be mentioned the same day. Federal- ism proposed honestly to abridge the liberty of speech and of the Press, and limit the right of suffrage under forms of = ————— ———K— es rrS—™S—S.—“< FEDERALISM VS. DEMOCRACY. on law, so that a man could know to what extent he could ex- ercise those rights. How is it with democracy since it linked its fortunes with slaveocracy ? Does it aim not only to abridge, but to sub- vert and overthrow these pillars of American liberty legally and peaceably? Far from it. These two elements are dis- | tilled down to Mobocracy. Every ruffian is left to deal out just such measure as his brutal passions seem to demand. No person is safe in person, property, or life, from brute force, which may fall upon him at any time or place, for speaking, writing, printing or voting against the new fan- gled democracy. He is exposed to be bound. scourged, tor- tured, tarred and feathered, his building burned, whole towns sacked, plundered, demolished, because the inhabitants love Liberty more than Slavery—invited to Kansas by a law of a democratic Congress, then hung, shot and burned for going thither. 'The Free Press is hated with intensified hatred, broken up and thrown into some river beyond re- covery, and the proprietors hunted like wild beasts. An honorable Senator is knocked down senseless and bleed- ing in his seat in the Senate Chamber for exposing some of the enormities of this pretender, when the American Senate itself stands bound, helpless, and speechless, before the bloody death’s head of modern democracy. This compound democracy, under the lead of some of its chiefs, Pierce, Douglas & Co., has pushed us to the verge _ of civil war; likewise foreign war, in its graspings after new _ territory, on which to extend and perpetuate the democra- tic institution of human bondage. Its face and hands are all stained, and its garments drip with the fresh, warm _ blood of American freemen, guilty of no offense but refus- ing to fall down and worship the image they had set up in _ the name of democracy. Nor are Slaveocracy and Mobocracy all the ocracies used _ to make up the full proportions of counterfeit democracy.— _ Add Popeocracy and rumocracy, and youhave it. The lat- _ ter is eminently calculated to give it prodigious vitality. _ It is pledged to the spread of intemperance, pauperism and crime, as well as to the extension of human slavery. Po- litical popery could not be felt or feared in this country _ were not the Catholics marshaled to swell the ranks of the 38 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. bogus democrat party, as they are at every election, local or general. So with slavery. The slave power would be quite insignificant, as it ought to be in our system of gov- ernment, but for the aid and comfort bestowed upon it by pro-slavery dough-faced democrats. C. FREEDOM vs, SLAVERY. August 4, 1856. Freedom is a living, breathing principle; it will never die. Flood cannot drown it nor flame burn it. Like the lilies of the field it toils not, neither does it spin. It springs sponta- neous and eternal in the human soul, and bids the slave himself to struggle up, and no less so for the infusion of white blood. It ‘* Taves through all life fixtends through all extent, Spreads undivided, Opcrates unspent. ”’ Not so with slavery; it is a perishable article. It has died out in all the more northern States of this confederacy. It will begin to rot down in the southern portion so soon as it is girdled. It has died out in all the British possessions and in most of the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. Besides, it is too costly a concern to compete suc- cessfully with a principle that lives without effort and is immortal. It has to erect, and keep in repair, and in operation too, many gun factories, knife factories, ship factories, and dog factories. ‘lhe whole society where it exists is too barbar- ous, brutal and bloody for this age. And now that the bat- tle is fairly-set between the extension and power of freedom and free laborers and labor, and slavery and slave labor “ on this continent,” I am heartily glad: It leaves a broad and free field for a free fight. C. R. ee ~ ee! Le es a id , i » . a ee a ee a a THE NON-COMMITTAL PARTY. =. 32 THE NON-COMMITTAL PARTY. July 20, 1856. [From the Orleans American.] We will now give the ‘“‘sham democrats” a short respite, and turn our attention for afew moments to the straddle-of- the-fence, non-committal party. The slave democrats have avowed boldly, by word and deed, their determination to extend and perpetuate Ameri- can slavery, to still enable the slave power to hold the pre- ponderance in the national government. ‘The Republican party, on the contrary, are equally determined that freedom shall be the rule, slavery the exception—that slavery shall net be further extended on this continent, and that the gov- ernment shall be administered in favor of liberty. And what is this middle party about? 'They denounce, to be sure, in their platform, the repeal of the Missouri Compro- mise, which re-opened the slavery agitation, but what are they going to do about it? Why, drive freedom out and establish slavery in Kansas. The vote in the House is proof positive on this point, on the question to admit her as a Free State—all, with one exception, of that party, voting with the Buchanan democrats against her. This party is a fungus—a worse sham than the democrat- ic has come to be, and what amazes me most is, that one single, honest, intelligent citizen should stay in it, or be longer hoodwinked by it. They seem to have waked up just now from a two or three hundred years’ snooze, during which time the country has been wholly peopled with for- eigners. How did these astonished, self-conceited Natives come by this inheritance, that they should now attempt, at this late day, to elbow out all other people, or, if they come, make them man-servants and maid-servants for twenty-one years, do your drudgery in-doors and out, pay taxes, con- tribute to the prosperity of the country, but not participate in its privileges? White slaves North, black slaves South, that’s the difference. 40 FATHER ROBINSON'S SCRAP-BOOK. PROPHETIC. Sept.. 1856. {From the Orleans American. ] —We say again to all Union-savers or subverters, slave- holders, their aiders, abettors, apologists for slavery and its extension, that you are to be all turned out of office, in the United States Government—in the State Governments, in all the Free States immediately, and in the Slave States not very remotely, for these three reasons: 1. That we have a constitutional and lawful right to do it. 2. That you have held them long enough; and the third and great reason is, that you have proved FALSE to constitutional liberty ! And leave it to you to cut the rope—split up the Union—you will probably make slow work of it, after losing the Executive, Legislative, Judicial and Military power. It will be an up-hill business—mark that! Ihave known hogs, sometimes, try to tear down the pen after be- ing turned out of it, because there was no living with them in it. SPECTATOR. THE MONGREL TICKET. Oct. 27, 1856. [From the Orleans American. ] Well, Gov. Hunt is nestling again for Uncle Sam’s nipple. A more appropriate nomination than this could not be made. He combines all the elements the fusionists could wish. Intensely silver-gray, the pro-slavery Democrats and pro- slavery Whigs, twin relics, can well fuse on Mr. Hunt. Besides being a prodigious Union-saver, with Mr. Fillmore, he would sacrifice independence, the Constitution and liberty itself for the Union—let the slaveocracy have their own way for it. I know whereof I speak in saying this. Mr. Hunt and my humble self corresponded freely when he was in Congress, dwelling especially on the slavery question, and I know him through and through; and mul- titudes of others know him too. He is a fine lump for southern plotters to mold. Union and policy is his theme. THE ELECTION OF BUCHANAN. 41 In one of my letters I inquired of him, (as being a Whig and one of his supporters,) that, if no impertinence, why northern members—more of them—did not muster indepen- dence enough to meet them, open the door and let the devils out, try them and end at once and forever this everlasting din about dissolution; for the slaveholders would as soon plunge into Shadrach’s fiery furnace as go out of the Union. But Washington put on a long face and wrote in reply, in substance—our southern brethren are quite sensitive and impatient; we must treat them gently; should we make such a proposal they might part company, nevertheless, with us, and we should thus lose their gracious presence, and split up the Union. THE ELECTION OF BUCHANAN. December 1, 1856. [From the Orleans American. ] Mr. Epiror: It is amusing to see the croaking of the - Southern press since the election of Buchanan; how the slaveholders determined the result of the election by their sturdy threats of disunion, and thus give them a four years’ lease more of the government, so in that time they can prepare to leave the Union in spite of our fears and lament- ations. I wish the Northern Free Press would meet these gas- conaders promptly, and let them know the real state of public sentiment here, if they can be taught anything. They might know now, from the result of the election, that their threats of disunion frightened but few people comparatively. ‘There are some doughfaces left here in the Free States yet, like Fillmore, Hunt & Co., but their numbers are growing beautifully less. We have a remedy for those thus afflicted, called ballot-box ointment, which proves a sovereign recipe. It is cheap, and we shall keep applying it till the fire-eaters of the Slave States back down, slavery be extinguished, the constitutional liberties of the people, “justice, protection of life, liberty and prop- erty, freedom of speech, of debate, of the press, and the right to keep and bear arms,”’ till the “ citizens of each State shall 42 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States ’’ be established, both North and South. It is not the senseless threat of disunion to which the shamocracy owes its present triumph—its barren scepter, as it will prove to be. No! It was ignorance .and whisky that gave you the triumph. Foreign bog-trotters, led up _ to the polls in droves by the rum argument more than by any other, either the commands of pope or priest, and the democracy thus carried the day ; connected to which was a similar element—a class of voters along the borders of ‘slavery, of its own offspring, debauched by it, ignorant, stupid and reckless with the other—these holding the bal- ance of votes in the south part of the southern tier of Free States, and in the cities everywhere, with the cotton mer- chants, gave the election to Buchanan. Who ought not to shout over such a victory ? Border ruffians, indeed, should hurra over it.— THE LAST MESSAGE. [From the Orleans American. ] President Pierce is a very poor apologist and advocate for slavery. In his zeal to promote its interests, he has overdone the thing altogether, thereby given the anti- slavery cause a new and powerful impulse, encouraged slaveholders only to weaken their own cause, both North and South, in our own and other nations, rendering chat- telized men and women a more precarious species of prop- erty, and hastening rapidly the time for the final overthrow of the system, peaceably or forcibly ! Who doubts but the bondman in this free country must sooner or later shed his chains ? and who that can discern the signs of the times can fail to see the period approach- ing? No man in the country has hastened that period more swiftly than President Pierce. His every movement tends directly to that end. His last Message, denouncing the Republicans for their anti-slavery tendencies, is well adapted to keep up the agitation, which he pledged him- self in the Inaugural to keep down. ‘Slowly the hand has crawled along the dial-plate, wrong is heaped upon wrong, and oppression cries,”’ and at THE DECISION. 43 length the people are aroused. Slaveholders, the aristoc- racy, consisting of one-half of one per cent. of the inhabit- ants, supported by their allies, the shamocratic party, rule, and cry dissolution if they cannot. They administer the government, aiming to strengthen, extend, and perpetuate slavery, while freedom grows strong, “gathers fresh strength from fresh opposition.’ Slave States hitherto have been added in violation of the Consti- tution, which guarantees a republican, not a despotic gov- ernment—Louisiana received with slavery — Texas and Florida at the South. The Fugitive Slave Law comes not for the benefit of the people, but the nobility—Kansas at the North seized—swindled away trom free labor—laws forced upon the citizens thereof without their consent, and they forced to obey them—Whitfield accepted by Congress as delegate under those laws, after being rejected by that body because these same laws were void and without force. Who believes the agitation is going to cool off? The Republicans are charged by the Message with com- bining to usurp the Government of the United States, - because they undertake to overturn such an administration —the slaveocracy that has ruled so long. “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” They have usurped the sacred rights of freemen in Kansas—-forced them to obey laws which they detest—had no voice in enacting—a “government deri- ving” authority from fraud and force, without the ‘ con- sent of the governed’”’—the legislature of their choice broken up by Federal armed bands. The Government of the United States is guilty of usurpation, not we— THE DECISION. March 18, L857. [From the Orleans American. ] In the Tribune of Saturday, March 14, over the signature of “T.S. P.,” occurs this bold and blunt remark: “This Union is not worth saving, nor this Government worth pre- serving, upon the basis of the doctrine of the inaugural, backed by the late decision of the Supreme Court.” Never 44 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. were truer words spoken. If, in all our high hopes and con- scious security as being under a Government ordained to establish justice and to secure the blessings of liberty, it tnrns out now, after two generations, to be a mere sham, a stupendous fraud, then away with it. If the Constitution of the United States is, indeed, what the Garrisonians pro- nounce it to be, and what the slaveocratic administration with its judiciary say it is—a gigantic instrument of oppres- sion, founded to extend, strengthen and perpetuate human bondage, instead of the blessings of liberty, then trample it in the dust, and begin anew. The sooner the better!— C.R. “FROM THE OLD-FOLKS AT HOME.” Nov. 20, 1857. [From the Waukegan Excelsior. ] I have purposely refrained from speaking, either in public or private, of the family troubles of 8. G. Love, till now, thinking that the merciless storm of malignity beating upon the devoted head of Mary, his former wife and our daughter, in consequence of the divorce and the unhappy causes of it, might have, ere this, spent its force; but I have waited in vain; I see no end to it, and hence it is time for me to speak out in defense of the fair character of our much esteemed daughter, with what force and power I may com- mand. Iam glad, therefore, Messrs. Editors, that a space in your columns is opened to me, and I am invited to fill it. And let me state in the outset, that those gentlemen of the press who are pursuing herself and husband, A. J. Davis, with fiendish malignity, should not complain if they are handled not very smoothly, especially a gentleman editor of your own place, conductor of the Waukegan Weekly Gazette. ‘“'The rod for the fool’s back.” And here I have to say, that my composition may be rather rough—without finish—as I was educated in a dis- trict school, and graduated, at the age of twelve, between the plow-handles, yet I hope to make myself understood. On the 6th of June last, that paper contained a scurrilous article against Mr. Davis and lady, which was made up of sly insinuations against the private character of Mr. Davis, FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME. 45 -and bold falsehoods against his wife, to which Mr. C. M. Plumb wrote a reply, correcting the falsehoods, on the 23d of the same month. One of the false charges brought against them was, that an agreement of marriage was entered into between Mr. and Mrs. Davis before the divorce took place, and was the ground of it, to which Mr. Plumb cor- rectly replies: “In regard to the last marriage, the facts are, that Mr. Davis never was consulted by Mr. and Mrs. Love, nor was it agreed between them that Mrs. Love should be divorced from her husband and marry him. So far from this being the case, Mr. and Mrs. Love had agreed upon a separation before either of them ever saw A. J. Davis, and she proceeded to obtain a divorce, only when her hus- band had become devotedly attached to another lady.” And the sentence might have closed by saying that Mr. Love has since married the object of his devotion ! This correction was published in the Gazette, together with a short note of commendation on the public teachings and private character of Mr. Davis, by Mr. John Gage. Besides, Mr. Gage characterized the statements in the arti- cle referred to, ‘‘ malicious falsehoods.” : In the face and eyes of all these corrections, this unprin- cipled editor has vamped over, enlarged and published a new edition of the malicious slander in the Weekly Gazette of 7th November, inst. “ Bray a fool in the mortar and he will be none the wiser.’ Pitching into Jackson’s lecture at Searl’s Hall, this editor makes him say that a large pro- portion of mankind have no souls. Wonder if he’s one of them ? Though the intention of Mrs. Love to procure a divorce was kept from the knowledge of most of her relatives and friends till obtained, their approval of it was most HEARTY AND UNANIMOUS ! This brings me to the question of her marriage with A. J. Davis. Read the “ Magic Staff,” and there find a truth- ful relation of his first perilous adventure in that direction, and his reception at the “ Robinson House,” and among the relatives—the opposition and indignation he had to brave. And why all this? What troubled so many of us? Just what troubles the Gazette now, and all other ranting oppo- sers—simply that we were then and they are séz/ orthodox 46 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-EOOK. believers, and Mr. Davis was a disbeliever—infidel, heretic, ‘¢ moral leper !” We partook somewhat of this same sectarian prejudice— hence the cold shoulder, almost indignity, which he met with; nothing else. We had heard of the strange phenom- enadown at Poughkeepsie—a young infidel insinuating infidel doctrines; he would contaminate us all—especially his in- tended ; did not believe in the divine record—in the claims set up for the Bible as an inspired book. Horrible! Away with him ! crucify him! His approach to our family was felt to be like that of a huge dragon with seven heads, two tails and ten horns, about to pitch in among us !—and for this reason only; this was the sum of his offending. We knew nothing against him otherwise. He appeared like a gentleman, and I think he must have had his magic staff with him, and used it as he alleges, else he could not have endured his treatment so patiently. This, Mr. Geer, is the ground of your bitter opposition. Nothing else. Examine and see. Your articles under re- view unmistakably show it. It is the ground of most, if not all the opposition to them and their labors—Religious In- tolerance | Said I toa clergyman here not long since, “‘ Fowler and Combe are good guides on the subject of life and health.” He retorted sharply, ‘“‘ They are infidels, disbelievers in the Bible—A. J. Davis with them—all of one school.” Hence the inference is that their words and works are worthless. This is the spirit of Bible orthodoxy—of sectarianism. ‘Work in my harness or die!” ‘They are afraid to have the claims of the Bible discussed; it must not be—hands off. So children are taught and made to believe; hence, they never put off childish things. Orthedoxy and secta- rianism are in danger from the new philosophy, and it must be resisted, and where argument fails, a resort to personali- ties is had, and the believers in the “ father of lies ” invent falsehoods to ruin the reputation of reformers, and limit their influence. It is said by this editor that Mr. Davis, at a certain time, came near being mobbed. Perhaps it was at the Hartford Bible Convention—the first gathering, I sup- pose, in this or any other country, to discuss and question the claims of the Bible—which barely escaped being mobbed ee pe ee ee FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME. 47 by the orthodox Bible believers there assembled—Mr. Davis being a member of that convention. Mother Earth, by the fruits of this intolerance, is paved with human skeletons, both Pagan and Christian, Mahomet- an and Jew. The Catholic Church, whose haggard ‘“‘ face is all stained with causeless massacres of countless millions,” is the foremost in Christendom, and the Protestant scarcely a whit behind, of which fire, fagot, the stake, the scaffold, are swift witnesses. But there is still hope, though the war upon reformers is no less inveterate than in gone-by ages, yet not so bloody. But, “can a man be born when he is old?” £Yes/ I have experienced a new birth—crawled out of the old or- thodox shell—I feel like a new man—sectarian shackles offi—have sought the truth, and the “truth has made me free.” Reader, before closing, I will “ tell my experience” brief- ly. Some three years since, Rev. J. Copeland, of this place, a Presbyterian clergyman, gave notice that he would deliv- era discourse on the divine authority of the Bible. his awakened my curiosity to hear. What! thought I, who is calling in question the Bible at this late day? Why, after the millions on millions that have been sacrificed, in time, labor, blood and treasure, is not that question settled yet? I heard the sermon, and then went to the examination of the subject for myself with a will. I had been somewhat famil- iar with the Bible, but was now resolved to be more so. I examined on. Last fall, at the close of the exerting cam- paign for “ Freedom and Fremont,” having taken an active part, my mind was not inclined to rest. Having leisure through the winter, Tread. First took up “ Nature’s Divine Revelations,” compared its theory of the creation with that ofthe Bible. Next, «‘ Goodrich’s Histo- ry of all Nations,” to know more particularly of the religion and sacred books of all nations, especially the more primi- tive; when I found that ancient mythology and our Bible are all off the same piece. That the claims set up for it as an inspired book, togath- er with the Koran and all other so-called sacred eS are priestly impositions on mankind. That God never wrote and spread out before the universe but one book, and that the book of Nature, through which 48 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. we may look up to Nature’s God—and if man will tune his life to the music, order, and harmony of her laws, he will - stand up in God’s own image. The world will be reformed. The Bible is full of contradictions, fictions, absurdities, and impossibilities. It supports and approves lying, steal- ing, swindling, robbery and murder, war, slavery, and poly- gamy, and is as much for intemperance as against it. It is a libel and slander on the Great Jehovah-to charge him with indicting such a book. True; some good precepts are found in it; this is no evidence of its divinity. Confucius declared the golden rule five centuries before Christ. Frank- lin and a thousand others, spoke and wrote many good things ; many more than the Bible contains. Now, in conclusion, I say to all whom it may concern, es- pecially the “ Ranters,” examine this subject. The days of brute force and gag laws are past. The claims of the Bible are being examined. It must stand or fall on its own mer- its, like other works. It must pass an ordeal now which it never before passed—and it will be found wanting! Yea, its grandest, strongest positions are overturned by its own theories so clearly that there is no escape. Mines of treasure have been expended, in the shape of money, time, and labor, in building temples of worship, edu- cating and supporting a priesthood, all for the soul’s eternal interest, after the Bible pattern. Now let this vast tide of wealth take a new direction—be applied more to the bodily comforts—the physical and mental wants of man—to re- model society—reform, refine, and elevate the race—pro- mote and extend the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of man—prepare him to live right here, and the hereafter will take care of itself. C. RosInson. WITHDRAWAL FROM THE CHURCH. June 22, 1857. To my brethren of the Second Freewill Baptist Church in Clarendon : I wish you to give me a letter of dismissal from your church, for the following reasons : THE BIBLE AND SECTARIANISM. 49 1st. I would not say to you that “ Nature’s Divine Reve- lations,” by A. J. Davis, or the “ Harmonial Philosophy,” by the same author, are better moral guides than the Bible, or a truer history of the ‘Creation ;” but I do say, that, in my opinion, whatever good Orthodoxy may have done in a ruder state of the world, it has ceased to do any now. Sec- tarianism can do but little more good, if it ever did any. The churches are a dead weight to all reform movements. They fought the Temperance cause till it was made popular by the “ Infidel’? world. Indeed, they never have taken hold unitedly init. So with the Anti-Slavery cause and other reforms. Church members, priests and laymen, are just as filthy—smoking, chewing, spitting, perhaps drink- ing, and lusting after “ filthy lucre’’ if not the flesh—as other men. Many of them make the Bible support and sustain Slavery, Polygamy, Intemperance, Popery, Protestantism, and all Sectarianism. 2d. So then I have come to the firm conviction that the world needs now a new race of Reformers—purer and holier than the Church affords, more philanthropic, loving and harmonious, less sensual and selfish, requiring less money than it takes to move the sectarian machinery. A new Theology, too, more consistent and rational, more in harmo- ny with natural laws, and of more universal application, than the Orthodox—more vital religion, with less formality, hy- pocrisy, sanctity and fanaticism—more honesty with less eraft and duplicity—drawn and held together by fitness and mutual attractions instead of creeds. ‘This new class of Re- formers should embrace all good and pure men and women, in and out of the Church. C. RoBINsoNn. THE BIBLE AND SECTARIANISM. Jan. 28, 1858. [From the Excelsior.] . The Bible, the reverenced and believed in so many hun- dreds of years, and by so many millions of people, has no just claims, nevertheless, to a sacred book, inspired by God. The claims set up in it are false !—Nor can an error, ever so venerable with years, ever so sincerely and persistently 50 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. believed in, be made truth. The careful student of history will not fail to see a striking resemblance between it and ancient mythology. It is a true likeness of that model. Like all other so-called sacred books, which are legion, itis ~ a priestly imposition on mankind. It is full of conflicting and contradictory statements, absurdities, fictions, fabu- — lous stories, and obscene recitals—supports lying, stealing, swindling, robbery, murder, slavery, polygamy, cruelty, war, rapine, blood, and slaughter. It is just such a production as might be expected to be written in the rude, undeveloped age it was, and a probable history of the same. Such a book, written now, would encounter nothing but derision and ridicule. It is a foul slander and libel to charge the Al- mighty with lending himself to such a work. God’s book was not written on parchment or paper, nor left to fallible or designing man to remodel at pleasure. It is the great book of Nature, spread out before all men, and worlds of men, and he who runs may read. It will astonish the Bible believer when he comes to know, which he may do by impartial investigation, that the book itself is obnox- jous to all the above allegations, and more. Out of its own mouth it stands condemned. It is a swift witness against itself. Let mankind examine it—it is high time to “know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” In a historical point of view, the religions of mankind are subjects of the greatest importance, because religious rivalries have been the occasion of the wars which have desolated the world ! Nearly every kingdom and empire has employed some re- ligion as the main instrument of its support. Wherever there has been a state religion the priest has become the tool of despotism—and thus history will show that some of the greatest promoters of a particular faith, have, at the same time, been among the sternest and bloodiest of ty- rants. According to Goodrich and others, there are 220,000,000 Buddhists, 60,000,000 Brahmins, 96,000,000 Mahometans, 4,000,000 Jews, 139,000,000 Roman Catholics, 62,000,000 Greek Catholics, 60,000,000 Protestants, and 210,000,000 of other religions, in the world. Let us, in this connection, take some examples of the costs of supporting the religions of the world. * { i a ae i a i THE BIBLE AND SECTARIANISM. 51 1. The United States. The following statistics are from the census of 1850, which exhibit the startling aggregate of not less than three hundred million dollars of capital ab- sorbed in the business of taking care of the souls of men under our voluntary system. There are in the United States 38,200 churches for public worship, of which 1,200 are Catholic--having accommodations for 14,300,000 persons and of a total value of church property of $87,500,000. The number of church members is 500,000, and the regular clergymen 26,842, with occasional ones making a total of 30,000 ministers. Employed atan average salary of $500, these 30,000 ministers would receive $15,090,000 annually. _To provide for this expense would require a capital of $187,500,000 at 8 per cent. interest. To this capital add the value of church property, $87,500,000, and you have a total of $275,000,000. Now add to this sum—which is a low estimate—$25,000,000 for the time spent in worship— the money and time expended in the education of the minis- try, erecting and endowing theological colleges and semina- ries, missionary, tract and bible society enterprises, and you have a grand total of $300,000,000 to support the churches of the United States, the income of which, at 8 per cent., would amount to $28,000,000 per annum! How much longer will the people continue to pay these enormous sums to support a false theology? A system, to say the least, under which there is as much iniquity cloaked and practiced as there is good-done by it. A Presbyterian clergyman was asked this question—* Is there not as much iniquity cloaked and practiced under the Bible as good done by it?’ “Yes,” he responded promptly, “more! much more !”—“ Then,” I replied, “we can do without it very wel]. And more—when the belief of its divinity shall cease—its divine authority taken from it-—-when it shall lose this power and consequence, and become of no more author- ity than other books—Josephus, Rollins, Goldsmith, Gib- bon or Goodrich, of our own country and times—which it really is not, then Popery, Slavery, Polygamy, Mormonism, and sectarianism of all kinds, in so far as they cloak and support themselves by the inspired word, so-called, will of necessity go by the board.” Now, let us take a few examples from the Church of Eng- ° 52 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. land, and see some of the exactions of an “established church,” under the compulsory system : The twenty-five State Bishops of England divide among them annually $900,000—about $40,000 each ; requiring a capital of $11,250,000 to produce it at 8 per cent. Eleven Irish Bishops left $9,375,000 at their death, besides their fat living through life, which, if we denominate it as capital, added to $11,250,000, would make a total of $20,625,000. The amount divided among these Irish bishops, or bish- ops of the English Church in Ireland, annually, is $800,000, and the rents and profits of 670,000 acres of land in addi- tion. Estimate the land at $40 per acre, it would amount to $27,600,000, and the capital to produce $800,000 at 8 per cent. would be $37,600,000 ; add the above, and you have $58,225,000. The revenue of the Protestant Church in Ireland is $4,000,000—requiring a capital of $50,000,000 to produce it. ‘Thus we have a capital of $108,225,000; the income of which would be abéut $9,000,000. Thus, we see that these twenty-five “ children of the kingdom,” heads of the Eng- lish Church, who profess to believe in a book that teaches, and who, doubtless, teach to their flock, “Lay ye not up treasures on earth—money is the root of all evil, ”’ receive an income of $9,000,000 annually, ground from the face of the poor—requiring a capital of more than $100,000,000 to produce it; besides, the common clergy recieve, in tithes alone, aside from salaries, $52,421,000 annually, requiring a capital of $650,000,000 to produce it. Add $108,000,000 and you have a sum total of $758,000,000. From the statistics I am consulting, (Goodrich, pages 966, 969) it is impossible to ascertain, imperfect as they are, how much salary, besides the tithes, the common clergy are paid, what the cost of church-building, of the theologi- cal, educational, missionary, tract, and other contingencies, or the support of the Catholic Church in Great Britain. But enough is here revealed to show that the aggregate is truly enormous—aside from the cost of the bloody wars oc- casioned by sectarian rivalry. There need be no surprise that the English national debt is more than she can ever pay, to say nothing of the aristocracy, which costs as much to sup- port as the church. No wonder that she has many mil- Oe ee ee a CLAIMS OF THE BIBLE AND CHURCH. bo lions struggling for bread—that the Irish peasants live in mud huts with one apartment, with a hole in the side, an- swering at once for door, chimney, and window—their wa- ges being a shilling a day—that four millions out of eight millions of her population can neither read nor write. Taking the above statistics as an index both of America. and England, no wonder that, with heaving bosom, the world is initiating a struggle to cast off the mighty incubus —the utter rottenness and corruption—the vast cage of un- clean birds, full of dead men’s bones, and sighing for a new era, a new, cheaper, more natural and rational religion. We estimate that ten per cent. of the world’s wealth is absorbed in support of its systems of religion, and we may further safely estimate that fifteen per cent. is consumed in intoxicating drinks, another ten per cent. for tobacco and opium, thirty-five per cent. in all. No wonder that society is wrecked, and the nations lie i in wretchedness, degradation, and ruin ! C Ropinson. ‘CLAIMS OF THE BIBLE AND CHURCH CONSIDERED—THE DISEASE. February, 1858. [From the Age of Progress. ] Look over the Christian world—our own country especi- ally, in every hamlet, town and city, and what do we see ? We see wretchedness, destitution and crime—-grinding self- ishness and its fruits, affluence and poverty. ‘These ex- tremes meet, more particularly and conspicuously in cities and large towns; magnificent palaces and hovels of pover- ty promiscuously mixed. Whole blocks of brothels on one side of the street, and their counterpart, a string of whole- sale and retail dispensaries of distilled destruction, on the opposite side ! The harlot and the drunkard sit under the windows of the temples of worship ; these sanctuaries casting their tall shadows darkly upon the gloomy walls of surrounding pri- son “Tombs,” full of living men and women putrid with crime! Look along and observe the asylum for juvenile 54 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. delinquents, from whose ranks issues forth this festering flood of ripe transgressors. See, too the poor-houses, jails, penitentiaries, and State prisons, all crowded with victims of our false order of society, under our Bible system of theology, which keeps these mighty receptacles of misdirected humanity in requisi- tion. See the poor Indians melting away before the advancing tide of counterfeit civilization—before the avarice of the “* pale face’’ armed with the Bible, the Rifle, and the Whis- ky bottle! Behold the negro chafing in his chains under a slavery-sustaining Church and Bible. Nor have Christian, any more than pagan nations, “ ceased to learn’? and wage war. Indeed, what is our own Christian government about at this hour? Why, just administering the salutary, the highly practical and customary Christian remedy for reli- gious quarrels——lead and steel, upon a horde of religious fa- natics, who are following the fashion of the Fathers of the Church—the most illustrious personages who figure in the “sacred word.” See the Church of Christ (so claimed.) itself, coming down to us, through misty ages, broken in a thousand fragments, stained with every sin—reeling with drunkenness and reek- ing with the blood of martyrs! I I do not pretend to say that the Protestant portion of the Christian chuich are a body of drunken men, but I do say, in so far as our own State and country is concerned, that the temperance cause is crushed out by the inaction of the church. Not that there are not devoted and zealous labor- ers belonging thereto, but by the leaning of so many of its members in the opposite direction, from appetite, interest or other cause, in order to keep peace in Zion, the influence of the church is neutralized in the great reform. But the Ca-. tholic portion of the church, universally, judging from what specimens we have in this country, from the priest down, are addicted to intemperance. Hence the out-and-out, tur- bulent opposition of “this branch of Zion” to prohibition ‘and the temperance enterprises generally. And as the “world” could not succeed in a final triumph, and the church would not help, (one branch being in vehement hos- tility to it,) between the two, the cause lies prostrate and MONEY—TIMBER—FENCING. 5d bleeding under the feet of the enemy, or driven from the field by its foes; and the “ breathing-holes of hell’ all over the land are in full blast, breeding discord and crushing human- ity ; more than $13,000,000 worth of the liquid death being annually manufactured in the State of New York alone! And as this branch of intemperance increases, so, too, its coun- terpart, tobacco-using. See now nearly all our young men sucking and puffing—their organisms saturated—pickled through / their breaths the breath of miasm, and their gar- ments freighted with the noxious odor. Thus, in the midst—under the operation and influence of this ponderous system of Bible Theology—we get a vigorous growth, and reap an abundant harvest of evils of every magnitude and vice of every grade. It is a righteous judg- ment to judge a tree by its fruits—a system by its effects ; and as its. fruits are more evil than good, the Bible system of orthodox religion should be removed to give place to something more hopeful to humanity—more simple-natured and consistent—more in harmony with nature and with God. This system has proved a hopeless failure. Society can scarcely be made worse by its removal. Gale. A MONEY —TIMBER—FENCING. July, 1858. [From the Freepouit (Ill.) Journal.) Ep. JourNAL: I have spent the months of May and June, and the first half of this, July, in Wisconsin. ‘Trav- eled, in the meantime, twice across the State, from east to west, within sixty miles, in two different portions of it, both south and north of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers—in the south-eastern and north-western parts of the State— sometimes by private and then by public conveyance, by stage and railroad, and am now sojourning for a few weeks in the renowned “ Prairie State,” and with your consent I will dot down a few things I have seen and heard. Firstly, there is the terrible groaning, loud and deep, un- der the ‘‘ money pressure.” ‘ Scarcity of money !” “ Want of money!” ‘This is the universal cry ! 56 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRKAP-BOOK. Now there is no effect without a cause. There is no other true philosophy in business or morals, matter, motion, — or anything else. What is the cause, then, of this want of money ? Simply because the people have got in debt too much—they have tried the credit system too far, have run too fast, lived on tick, absorbing their income in prospect, a year, perhaps more, ahead, and now, when produce and labor go down to ebb tide, their crops and labor will not pay their debts and leave a living, for all must have their daily bread, fuel, clothing, &c. And nowis the time for the money sharks—the carcass is here and the eagles gather! Not content with the allowable interest, from ten to twelve per cent. in all the Western States—which, if long contin- ued, will crush any country—twenty-five, fifty, and seventy per cent. is frequently demanded, and, in desperation, some- times allowed, like the old miller who took the grist and left the toll! j Well, stranger, you ask, what is the remedy? Why, pay up, if you can, and “pay as you go” ever after; live with- in your means, and so much extra money will not be required, and, from necessity, interest or usury will go down, and capital and labor work more in concert. Without this step toward more rigid economy—although the country through which we pass, is, most of it, beautiful and productive, well calculated for the habitation of civil- ized communities—without this economy, very many of its present inhabitants must sell out and give place to more prudent and careful men and women. The want of money is painful and absorbing, though, doubtless, but a temporary evil. But there is a want among these prairies, which is more permanent—the want of timber. ‘To a stranger from a timbered country this is a painful lack. Notwithstanding, you speak of this lack of timber to a resident citizen, like as not he will readily re- ply, “ We have enough—more’n we want!” as though thus another might be made as blind as he would fain be. Still the truth exists. The want of money is doubtless a transient evil, but the want of timber is both immediate and remote. Still, I have faith that the same economy and in- dustry that will overcome the former evil will ultimately, in a good measure, overcome the latter. MONEY—TIMBER—Y¥YENCING. : 57 Then, stranger, you ask further, what is your plan to supply the present want of timber? ‘This is an important question, and perhaps my suggestions may never be accept- ed and fullowed by any one. But here they are; they cost but little, either to write, print, or read them, nor would the outlay in trying the experiment, should it fail, involve any considerable loss. First, then, fence for the purpose, and prepare, say, to commence with, an acre of prairie ground; procure hard and soft maple seed from any part of the country where they abound, likewise locust seed, acorns, if you choose, walnuts and beech nuts; elm is good for shade, white ash, brown ash, too, for timber and wood. Sow them in the fall, sepa- rately and thinly, on separate parcels of the ground, broad- cast and drag in. If the seeds germinate, come up, keep them carefully fenced, and fire away from them, and weeds, if needs be, and I venture to say that in forty years, fifty at most, some of these maple trees, if not too thick together, will make from oue to two cords of wood each, and each locust tree make considerable of a string of fence. Both bodies and branches may be worked in. Forty-five years ago this month, the writer moved from Paris, Oneida County, New York, to the western part of the State, then mostly unsettled. As the woods were being cleared away, some hard maple saplings were left standing, and some were set out, perhaps of ten years’ growth, in or on the side of yards, gardens, &c.,; and now, in forty-five years, will make from one and a half to two and a half cords each. Soft maple will grow more rapid- ly, smoothly, and thriftily, than hard. If your experiment succeeds, of which I have not the least doubt, for wherever we travel I see that both kinds of maple and locust trees are planted and grow finely, then let ten acres be thus planted on every hundred, with the addi- tion of an acre, more or less, of apple seeds sown in the cen- ter. In afew years you would have nice artificial groves clothing the whole prairies where now a great blank prevails, both ornamental and useful—useful in more ways than one —to transplant from, for wood and timber, for fence and other uses, good to break the fierce winds that now sweep unobstructed over these vast western plains. 58 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. Fencing is intimately connected with timber, and is an important item in farm pursuits, as well as it. The ex- pense of the one depends cn the supply of the other. Tim- ber fences only are now under review. What, then, is the cheapest method of building it, and ~ the best ? Here are my suggestions. ‘The way to build it so as to husband both labor and materials, especially the latter, is as follows: The posts may be split or sawed, or set whole if the cuts are too small for either. Cedar and oak are best for posts —if sawed tapering will stand firmest in the ground. Pine or hemlock is best for boards; other timber will do—oak, soft maple, chestnut, ash, &c. For sawing large logs, a mill with a vertical saw will do, but for small timber a circular saw must be used, and the mill so constructed that you may slit poles into fence boards not over three inches in diameter at the top end, if you desire to saw so small ones. In this way a pole large enough for a top-rider on a worm rail fence will make boards for a whole length, and the timber usuall,; used for stakes and caps in’such would make the posts. In some sections where we traveled, where sheep and hogs are not “free commoners,” three boards, four or five inches in width and one in thickness, the bottom one placed one and a half or two feet from the ground, fence well against cattle. Now for the construction: If you wish to fence a whole farm at once, or make a long string, stake out the line or lines, take your team and plow a land, say from 12 to 20 feet wide, turning the furrows outward from the intended fence. On the line make a deep dead furrow, then draw your line again and dig your holes in the dead furrow, (which are now half dug with the plow,) to the desired depth, put up and steady your posts with a little of the surround- ing loose earth thrown into the holes, spike on a board be- - low where the surface of the ground will be when the set- ting of the posts is finished, to keep them from being raised up by the frost or swayed by the wind, take your team and plow again, and finish the work of setting the posts by turn- ‘ing the furrows back upon your board and posts, nail on your top boards, and the fence is done. Or use the post FARM AND FIRESIDE. 59 auger, or spade, or cleaver and long-handled ditching shovel for digging post holes, as you may choose. C. RoBINSoN. FARM AND FIRESIDE. Nov. 15, 1858. {From the Orleans American. ] We left Holley, self and better half, 5th May last, to spend the summer at the West, among children, relatives and friends, scattered over the country, and a part of the winter at the South, where you see we now hail from. We have now traveled about 3,000 miles; 500 by private con- veyance, by stage, a little by water, and 2,500 by railroad. Arrived at Columbus, Wisconsin, May 7th, traveled con- siderably over the State, and left it July 15, for IMlinois— traveled some in that State, through Chicago, Freeport, in the northern part ; Dixon, Dement, De Kalb, Mendota, and Galesburg, in the more central portion of it. Left the State and arrived at Battle Creek, Michigan, August 9, sojourned in the southern parts of this State till September 20, when we left for Medina, in the northern part of Ohio, where we sojourned till October 14, when we passed on to North Lew- isburg, in central Ohio, and on November 8, passed on to -Cincinnati—spent a day and night there, then down the Ohio river, on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad across the State of Indiana, crossing the Wabash, its western boundary, at Vincennes, where we are again in [llinois—passed on to Sandoval, and then took the Illinois Central again for Cai- ro; then took steamboat across the mouth of the Ohio, and down the Mississippi river 20 miles to Columbus, Kentucky; and here we are ina Slave State for the first time in our lives, though I suppose we were between two Slave States, Kentucky and Missouri, on leaving the middle of the Ohio river at its junction. Staid over night at Columbus, took the 8 o’clock A. M. train on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, 17 miles across the south-west corner of Kentucky, to the Tennessee line, thence here, Bolivar, l'ennessee, 78 miles, November 12. We have now fairly entered the Cotton 60 FATHER. ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. and “ Nigger ”’ country. Expect to leave for home in time to pass through Washington before the close of Congress, 4th. March—then on through Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York city, Albany, Utica, Rochester, home / We have traveled most of the time by day-light, and as we are farmers, nothing else! and of course always looking through farmers’ eyes, we may say something interesting on it, and its connected subjects, if equal to the work. I will conclude this article, by relating an incident of home life in the South. Last Saturday was a sunny day; an old esteemed friend from Illinois, and self, walked down to the post-office, quarter — of a mile from our stopping-place, situated hard by a depot on the Mississippi Central and Tennessee Railroad. Opposite the post-office stands the court-house, a brick structure much the size and appearance of the old court-house in Orleans County. Along the yard fence were paraded a dozen wigs and a slave trader. My friend and I stepping up, he said, Gents, you wish to buy? I guess not, said I, short of funds to-day —what’s the price? ‘That big boy [pretty well whitened out] $1500, weight 160 ; that girl, first rate house servant, good cook, neat all round 12%, all plump, right age 32, weighs 119; pick one out, sir, and I'll price it quick. ‘That boy, $950, weight 72,age 13. This 74, weight 63, age 11. A mighty smart lot, all plump right; where do you reside, gentlemen ? In town, sir. Where were these from? ‘This from Mississippi, that Alabama, from Virginia, all round, any where; I pick them up where I can find them; I follow the business. My friend and I sloped without making a purchase to-day. They seemed quite indifferent, as did also all around, other darkies in the streets, and whites. We saw most of the gang next day, unsold, we supposed, appearing quite gay and unconcerned. December, 1, 1858. There are two physical and two habitual evils, existing not exclusively, but prevailing more extensively at the West and South than at the East and North, which I will mention at the outset of this communication. FARM AND FIRESIDE. 61 First, the rage for large farms, and consequent bad hus- bandry, and so much distance between neighbors, and con- sequent difficulty of keeping up schools—press of business and cares—‘“ too many irons in the fire,” some burning— loss in consequence——-neglect of the gardens, both fruit and vegetable. ‘This neglect is universal both North and South, full as much in the former as in the latter. Weeds! Weeds !! Weeds !!!—this the rule with rare exceptions. IT venture the opinion that more than $5,000,000 are lost in the United States annually by this neglect, besides a ereat deal of enjoyment derived from a good garden, both in its luxury as food and beauty in adornment. One hour of labor spent in the garden is worth two in any other farm husbandry in substantial benefit to a family as food-produc- ing labor. This is all wrong, nor do I expect to right it much by what little scolding I can do, though my propensity is strong that way. Germans, never so proverbial for nicety in this department, become lax by mingling with Americans. It is not because we care not, but because we will not. You find the tobacco field—producing a plant that all animals shun and loathe, and but for perverted taste, would be ab- horred by man-—most carefully and delicately trimmed, made exquisitely nice and clear of weeds, when, right by its side, in the same inclosure even, you may see all useful vegetables struggling for dear life among their enemies— weeds and insects, with. very little, if any, attention from the owner. This brings me to my second point—to speak of the use and abuse of liquor and tobacco. Their abuse is in their use, and mankind are most shamefully abusing themselves with them. God’s earth is made to produce nothing that so cur- ses the race! A whisky sot, or a tobacco sot! how loath- some a lump of misdirected humanity. How old earth steams and reels and smokes with the noxious miasma. In our own little portion of the globe, the South beats the North in these dirty habits. Pickeled bipeds are the rule ; —a teetotaller would be a curiosity, rare as snow in summer. Here all drink, smoke and chew hugely. We heard a spe- cimen of humanity consoling his fellow, who was complain- ing that his drunken habits were proving ruinous to him, by 62 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. saying that he had been on a drunken bust six weeks, and by living on meat he stood it well. ‘“ Live on meat,” said he, ‘and whisky won’t hurt you.” That any people can rise to refinement till they arise from this animalized, lower, dead sea level, is impossible. They may grow in intellect, genius and art, but refined — never. _ Physical Slavery has three redeeming traits. Ist—It is not voluntary, 2d—it is some pecuniary benefit, 3rd—it is sectional ; whereas, this seductive slavery to appetite has not one. It is self-inflicted, inexcusable and universal—robs individuals and nations of immense physical and moral strength, and incalculable sums of money, the United States of not less than $100,000,000 annually, which is worse than wasted. The negro is less hopelessly enslaved than the smoker or drinker. Oy Tt. “A HUNDRED DOLLAR PRIZE.” September 15, 1859. ‘“‘The Church Anti-Slavery Society, at its business meeting, held in Worcester, Massachusetts, on the 29th of March, passed a resolution offering a premium of $100 for the best tract, showing that the Bible gives no warrant or allowance for chattel slavery.”—W. Y. Tribune, April 16. Better let it be as it is; it is the easiest and cheapest way. It would cost no one a hundred dollars to show the opposite. Omit the short word “no,” and change “or” to “and,” so that the “ enacting clause” -of the resolution shall read, the Bible gives warrant and allowance for chattel sla- very, and the truth is told. The record is so plain that none but the willfully blind can mistake its meaning. A single dollar will pay for copying the record. We know that the Bible, by skillful, lawyer-like handling and rending, may be made to prove or disprove almost anything. A great many tunes have been and can still be played upon it, and many changes rung; but if English words can be framed into sen-. _tences to mean and prove anything — then the Bible sup- ports slavery, andif that book is authority, the slaveholder is right in enslaving his fellow man—tright in claiming the Bible as a chief corner-stone of the institution. Every anti- slavery man or society, therefore, to be consistent, should A HUNDRED DOLLAR PRIZE. 63 either take the Bible as a human production, with no more authority or binding force than any other history, the Koran, Veda, or any other so-called sacred book, or give up their anti-slavery principles. Nor is American slavery, as now existing, the whole of sla- very authorized by that book. In addition to the enslave- ment of the black, we may enslave our own white citi- zens—our ‘own brethren.” ‘'T'o the proof. “Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set be- fore them. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve ; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his mas- ter have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons and daughters ,the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.” So if a female slave, the wife of a male slave, have chil- dren, her children and herself, by this law, are held in per- petual bondage, and the man wanders off alone. “ But if the man servant,” under these circumstances, “ shall plainly say, | love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free; then his master shall bring him unto the judges ; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever!” A pretty apt contrivance to induce a bond-man to choose perpetual servitude with his wife and children! ‘And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men servants do.” Here is another condition where the slavery of the female is perpetual. Exodus xxi: 1 to 7, inclusive. This is Bible slavery for our “own brethren ;”’ and under this regulation, American citizens would be justified in en- slaving—buying and selling each other. But we have hard- ly come up to the Bible standard yet in this particular ; but in another branch of Bible slavery our system corresponds to the letter! Hear: “ Both thy bond-men and bond-maids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen round about you : of them shall - ye buy bond-men and bond-maids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land, and they shall 64 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. be your possession !—And ye shall take them as an inherit- ance for your children after you, to inherit them for a pos- ~ session ; they shall be your bond-men forever!” Lev. xxv: 44th, 45th and part of 46th verses. This is a clincher, and in order to make us common people believe that the rivet is hardly driven home, Dr. Hikok, Professor of Moral Science in Union College, in treating on this subject, omits the words, “ They shall be your bond-men forever.’ No wonder; and how many more D. D’s and lesser lights have undertaken to warp, wrest and abridge this plain, ‘straightforward, unmis- takable Bible recognition of human or inhuman bondage, regulated by law, I cannot tell. We will wait and see what will be done under this $100 stimulus. THE BUFFALO CONVENTION. Sept. 30,1859. {From Fred Douglass’ Paper.] Mr. Epiror: Having no opportunity to criticise the proceedings of the Convention on the spot, and even had the time allowed, it would have been presumption in one of my poor voice and little practice in public speaking, to make the attempt in that large hall, capable of seating over two thousand persons, being well filled, and before a large circle of men and women with life-long experiences on the forum—lI ask, therefore, a place in your columns for a short review, especially of the anti-slavery question. I know that your paper is chiefly devoted to the deliver- ance of your down-trodden race, (a sublime object ;) yet you will indulge me with a few thoughts in the outset on other topics discussed by the Convention, that of Maternity being the chiefest of them all. I was sorry that the apt elaborator, Henry C. Wright, when he said that in that critical and interesting period, the conditions and surroundings of the woman should be of the best character, in order that the offspring should be nobly born, had not included the husband and father as being the first and fittest person under heaven to furnish and continue those conditions and surroundings. U. S. CONSTITUTION AN ANTI-SLAVERY INSTRUMENT. 65 I was sorry, after the introduction, by Mr. Partridge, © of that gigantic project of a census, that some speaker to that question had not given out an earnest exhortation to the assembly, urging them, that, while the process of making up tables of figures on the sums expended for intoxicating drinks and their effects, and of tobacco and its effects, &c., self-salvation had not been enforced, so that society might be so progressed that these statistics would be measurably use- less as furnishing data for discussion under their several heads ; exhorted to harmonize themselves, observe the laws of their own being, tune their lives to the music, order and harmony of nature’s laws, each save himself then save his brother, be a law unto themselves, so when each shall be right the whole shall be right, for the whole of society is made up of individuals. Stephen Foster took this work in hand, and did well for a time ; but mounting his favorite hobby, abolition, it carried him off so swiftly that he entirely lost sight of the question. I was sorry that that other sum of all villainies, intem- perance, received no hearty, special. rebuke; the thous- and-mouthed pandemonium in Buffalo, even belching forth its consuming fires, unceasing, passed unnoticed. Slavery, _ by a number of speakers, was pronounced “ the sum of all villainies ;” that is right. But the use of tobacco should be characterized the sum of all nastiness.— THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AN ANTILSLA- VERY INSTRUMENT. Dec. 2, 1859. [From the Liberator.] “ The United States shail guarantee to every State in this Union a Re- publican form of government.”—ART. 4. Suc. 4. U. 8. ConstTiITUTION. From this text, taken from the American political Bible for a foundation, I propose some remarks on the standing motto at the head of the Liberator. I request their inser- tion in its columns, and you are at liberty to subjoin such remarks as you may think best. 66 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. Tam not vain enough to think that Iam about to sug- gest a new idea; the same has been said many times in numerous forms. Edward Bates, of Missouri, one of the Tr7bune’s candi- dates for the next Presidency, in a recent political manifesto, said, or is made to say by his spokesman, the Sz. Louzs Evening News, November 8th, that “the Slave States have not Republican forms of government, but are despotisms.”’ Still, he has the unaccountable, though fashionable incon- sistency, to say that, were he President, he would sign a bill for the admission of a Slave State, without hesitation. — “ The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government.” Have they done that ? Far from it. This provision is a dead letter in every Slave State. It is evidenced by their slavery forms of government. Who or what is to blame? Is it the Consti- tution of the United States? Notso. It is the States and people themselves who have baffled, thus far, the execution and enforcement of this salutary and peremptory provision of the work of the fathers. Nay, we have been multiply- ing Slave States and slave governments, besides holding others in the Union with slave governments, instead of en- forcing the guarantee. ‘The Constitution is clear of this enormity. I need not insult any man’s judgment or common sense by saying that a Slave State cannot have a republican form of government; that slavery and republicanism are eternal antagonisms; that they cannot exist in one community ; nor can slave and free labor work together. All know this without being told. The strongest, blindest South-sider in Boston, in the Bay State, in the United States, dare not risk his reputation as aman of sense, and say that any Slave State in the Union has a republican. government. Not one! So the question need not be argued, only affirmed. If any- body dare take the affirmative, let him commence. ‘Would common law practice which belongs to a repub- lican government—courts, juries, sheriffs, jails, or even scaf- folds—hold a man in slavery ? Not an hour! It is too slow a process. He must be an absolute chattel personal, sub- ject to the will of a master, who has, and must have, the power of life and death over him. U. S. CONSTITUTION AN ANTI-3LAVERY INSTRUMENT. 67 _ “'The power of the master must be absolute to render the submission of the slave perfect. It would not do to allow the rights of the master to be brought into discussion in the courts of justice. The slave, to remain a slave, must be sen- sible there is no appeal from his master.” [2 Devereaua’s N. Carolina Rep. 263.| “'There is no law for negro slavery but that of the over- seer’s whip,” [L. Lupington, 1b. p. 49—Goodell’s Slave Code, pages 126, 127,] and I would here commend this work to all who are leaning toward the South side of this “ubject. It would be apt, if read attentively, to strengthen them up. - No. There is no law for slavery but brute force. It has - been a system of man-stealing, robbery and piracy, from the time the notorious John Hawkins commenced it in Africa till now. If this provision of the Constitution had been applied to the system, it would have overthrown it long ago. There are other provisions that would help materially, such as the equal rights of citizens of a State among all the States, the freedom of speech and of the press, &c. But had this primal provision been enforced, the chief corner-stone of the whole structure, both the fugitive clause and the representative clause, which were mere temporary contingents, would have been obsolete; for there would be no slaves to run away, and none to represent. So, friend Garrison, I think you have got the saddle on the wrong horse. Ii is not the Constitution of the United States that is ‘‘a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell,” but American slavery, which the “ States of this Union, and the people thereof,” have suffered so long to curse and pollutethe land, rendering that instrument a dead- letter in the Slave States. No; we, their degenerate chil- dren, are to blame, not the fathers ; we have been recreant to our trust. They did the best they could, under the cir- cumstances ; they did well enough; they furnished the in- strument with which to overthrow slavery, and we have failed to use it: and why? Simply because the slave power has always controlled the government, and shaped legisla- tion to protect, extend and perpetuate slavery. ‘The majori- ty of the people and their representatives are willing to a) 68 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. have it so; indeed, are aiding and abetting—have laid their own sacrilegious hands to it—and are still doing so. The whole nation is corrupted by slavery. Neither the fathers nor their work are worthy of such reproach. “A republican form of government is a government. of the people.” |Webster.] Will any man so stultify himself as to suppose that a portion of the people of a State can hold another portion as chattels, and call that a republican government ? And these chattels, forming the chief mate- rial power of the State, doing all its labor, when productive labor constitutes all private and public wealth and prosper- ity; while this laboring and producing class is robbed of the last cent of their earnings, which are appropriated by and to the non-laboring and non-producing class, who are ren- dered by the process helpless and worthless drones, while the laboring and producing class have no participation in the government, nor protection under it. But, says an objector, these are not people. Who says that? And by what authority but the law of the stronger, by whom they are crushed to the state of the brute ? But it is presumed that their pretended owners would not deny that themselves are a portion of the people; but they are not republicans, under republican governments; they are petty despots, under rank despotisms, deprived them- selves, by the frame-work of the institution, of the essential elements of republicanism—of the freedom of speech and of the press—of the power of manumission, if they would. Nor will it be denied that the non-slaveholding whites are peo- ple; still, by the workings of slavery, they are reduced in their condition to nearly a level with the slave; deprived of work and wages—as labor is degraded because the work is done without wages—shut out from the tree of knowledge, the free participation in the fruits of which is indispensable to the enjoyment of a republican government; not allowed to speak, even, in the presence of slave-owners, only to bow assent to what they may say. [See Helper’s Impending Crisis.| But it is almost superfluous to quote authority, as almost every reading and thinking person is now familiar with the workings of the institution. The free people of color are no better off. LETTER TO HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 69 Nor can it be successfully denied that the slave class is a portion of the people. The instrument under review, the Constitution itself, declares this, and that is good enough authority for me and my purpose, and ought to be for every American. ‘They are mentioned twice—in the representa- tive clause and in the fugitive clause—and in both instances are termed persons, and persons collectively are people— are inhabitants of a state or country. [See Webster.| What is the peaceable remedy? Why, enforce the Con- slitution. Require every State in the Union to adopt a republican form of government. As the Free States have done, so let the Slave States do—replace their slave gov- ernment by a republican form of government. _It is no good reason, though many think so, that because the Free States have done this in their own time, the Slave States should never begin the work. They should be re. quired to doit; and now is a good time to commence, while our Southern copartners are plotting for a slave code for the Territories. ‘The Federal Courts are bound by the Con- stitution to entertain all cases of law and equity. Which of the northern or free members of the firm will begin ? Will Massachusetts, and test the case through the courts ? Nor is it a good reason why the South should not be coerced should they not voluntarily change their form of government, because they have been let alone so long. Wrong is never made right by age. C. ROBINSON. LETTER TO HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. March 16, 1860. Dear Sir: _ Being one of your immediate constituents, I will not waste time in apologizing for addressing you on a topic of vital interest, not to the black man of this country only, but involving the common constitational liberties of the white man as well. I belong to the laboring masses. We farmers, mechanics and laborers have but little interest in politics and govern- ment, only to vote intelligently, and see that the government is so administered as to secure our liberties; to protect our persons, houses, papers and effects from unreasonable 70 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. searches and seizures; our life, liberty and property, the freedom of speech, of the press, and of the ballot; to do and enjoy all the acts and rights which freemen have, and of right ought to have, under the Constitution of the United States; for I believe we have no just reason to complain of the administration of the State governments of the Free States, but very much of the Federal Government, in this direction ; and we think we have a right to demand of our Federal statesmen better security of constitutional rights. — This is all we ask. I speak in general terms for the whole American family, for if one member suffers, the whole body suffers ; hence, I speak particularly for myself and mine. I am old—have been younger—young enough and old enough, in 1812, to be a pioneer in Western New York, to beat the bush and half beat the British in the second war of independence. Our descendants are numerous: three of them now in the despotic South, and allowed to remain there and prosecute their business only under peculiar force of circumstances, which I need not mention here. And here we are, closed from each other’s familiar greetings and in- terchange, through the medium of letters and periodicals, unless blackened with the smut of slavery and varnished with Southern dirt; their parents and numerous friends at the North estopped from correspondence, or allowed it only on condition of a degrading and unconstitutional espionage on their part, and at the risk of compromising the safety and business of the other parties. Thousands are going South, and will go, to seek a more genial climate, and a larger field for industry and enterprise. Cannot these be protected in their legal and constitutional rights, as though they were sojourning in foreign parts ? In the latter case, not a hair of their heads dare be touched. The least right of an American citizen abroad compromised, and the whole army and navy are employed for his protec- tion. Is it so with our own citizens at home? 'To the shame and disgrace of our pretended free government, No ! No Northerner is safe in a Southern State. Iffrom the North, that ix enough; he must leave; and if he gets off without a coat of tar and feathers, or other indignities and violence, he does well. Nor is a Southern citizen safer, if he breathes a whisper, or even thinks a thought against this gigantic system of human chattelhood. LETTER TO HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 71 I am very familiarly acquainted with two young men, born. . in this State, graduates of the same noted seat of learning from which Wm. H. Seward took his degrees, who have -gone South, one of them not two years ago, to Alabama, where he procured a paying situation as teacher, from which comfortable position he has been recently ejected, for the only reason that he was a Northerner; though, to my cer- tain knowledge, he defended the “ peculiar institution ”’ bravely. The other has more recently made the trial, and writes back to his friends, that ‘“‘Northerners tell me they are kept under pretty strict surveillance here.” Your speech of February 29, 1860, on the admission of Kansas, was a good one; the Tribune and other friends say that. But I must be allowed to say that, in my opinion, it lacks both completeness and directness. The issue is well taken, and the trial of the culprit, slavery, well prosecuted— the facts of the aggressions of slavery on freedom well stated. But whatis the remedy? ‘That is the question. This history is familiar to the humblest, but what are the guarantees for the future ? There is one count omitted which strikes deeper at the root of liberty than any one enumerated. The abridgment of liberty of speech and of the press cannot be effected by law. Such a law would be void under the Constitution of the United States, as would the Sedition Law proposed by that ranting demagogue, “ don’t care, dare-devil Douglas.” After having a little taste of “Alien and Sedition Law,” the fathers anticipated and estopped such petty tyrants by an amendment, or rather extension of the guarantees of free- dom. (Art, 1, sec. 1, of Amendments.) But by insurrection— for I substitute this word for mob violence, which I think may be done in this case, and do no violence to the mean- ing of terms—I say, by insurrectionary movements of armed men, thirteen printing presses have been destroyed during the “irrepressible conflict,” ten of them on professedly free territory, commencing with Elijah P. Lovejoy’s, at St. Louis, Missouri, who lost his life in defense of a free press, the third one, at Alton, Illinois, and ending with that of the Free South, at Newport, Kentucky, on the 28th of October last, conducted by Wm. S. Bailey. The Federal Govern- ment is bound by the Constitution to suppress all insurrec- (2 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. tions, yet no notice is taken of these ; but in case of an insur- rection in behalf of freedom, the Government would prompt- ly furnish hangmen and hemp for the offenders. The present Governor of Kentucky informed Mr. Fee and his forty associates, victims of this insurrectionary violence, on their petitioning him for protection, in substance, that the government of Kentucky was too weak to protect them and their rights against the violence of the mobocrats. Is the Federal Government too weak also? No! if it does not protect, not only these, but every American, as well at home as abroad, it is for want of will. If the States fail to do it, why should not the United States extend its protecting shield? But if this, too, cannot, or fails to protect or se- cure the liberty of its citizens, the Union is a sham, and the Constitution is not worth the paper on which it is written— fit only to be trodden under foot of men! Are there not mem- bers who will propose measures before Congress, and pass them, for the better security of the people under the consti- tutional guarantees ? Doubtless every member is familiar . with the provisions of the organic law. If there be any that are not, they are unfit to be there. After assuring the perfect freedom which would be ex- tended to Southern men incase they saw fit to prosecute a political campaign in the Free States for the election of any candidates for office, of any party, on any platform they might choose to adopt, you proceed to say, “ Extend to us the same privileges, and I will engage that you will very soon have in the South as many republicans as we have De- mocrats at the North ;” and, I add, anti-slavery, instead of pro-slavery Republicans. It would be preposterous to sup- pose anti-slavery men residing in the Slave States advoca- ting the continuance of slavery.in their midst, keeping it where it is, as Northern Republicans do. But this is not my point. “ Extend to us the same privi- leges.”” What privileges? Are not the citizens, both North and South, entitled by right to these privileges, under the Constitution bestowed by the fathers, without begging them from politicians of the North, or a handful of oligarchs of the South. Must we depend on the nod of these? Or is the operation of these rights to be narrowed down and limited north of Mason and Dixon’s line? or to territories LETTER TO HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 73 where are no or next to no inhabitants, and slavery extin- guished and freedom established by ambuscade in the woods ? « The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- leges and immunities of citizens in the several States.” Does this mean nothing? «The freedom of speech or of the press shall not be abridged, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and petition the government for a re- dress of grievances.”’ ‘‘ Where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shail be preserved, and preserved in all criminal cases.’ Are these provisions “ glittering generalities ” or realities ? What is a government worth that does not protect its citizens? Like begets like. We have had insurrections against freedom without number, but none of the mobocrats or insurrection- ists have been brought to justice, or an attempt made in that direction, though the government is bound to suppress these, and protect the people from their viclence. How long, think you, shall this state of things last, ere an opposing in- surrection breaks forth, for the seeurity of rights which the government fails to protect, which might grow to revolution, and be difficult to overcome, and sweep the disturbing ele- ment from the land? Slavery propagandists better not tempt that day! Searcely a speech is delivered by Southern mem- bers, in either House of Congress, without a sprinkling of vehement clamor relative to Southern rights under the Con- stitution, mingled with fierce threats of disunion unless they are allowed such rights. Why should not the Constitution be analyzed in their presence, and see how the account stands? Slavery has no part nor lot in that instrument; it is not polluted by it. The fathers found slavery in all the States but one, and under the rule they themselves adopted, that « LETTER TO HON. PRESTON KING. 87 its numerous departments, and out-doors in all kinds of farm work ; and it is my deliberate opinion that the slave is far better prepared to take care of himself than the master, from this very reason, if no other, the slave knows how to work and the master don’t. Doubtless both would feel a mutual dependence to which they have been long accustomed were they both left to shift for themselves, asincident to a free labor system, but the master would fail on the dependence most, would be the worse off ; but practice makes perfect ; they would both out- grow it in time, and be able both to walk erect under the impulse of a new and infinitely better, more exalted man- hood. Yours, very respectfully,. C. Rosinson. | LETTER TO HON. PRESTON KING. Aug. 9, 1864. Dear Sir: My letter of July 1st, of which you had the goodness to acknowledge the receipt August 5th, contained, I think, this sentiment: I hope most devoutly, that at the approaching Congress a blow may be struck at the root of the rebellion, that through the exigencies of war, slavery will be abolished in all the seceded States, all property of active traitors confiscated and loyal citizens indemnified, not only as to their interest in slaves, but all property. You re- ply, “ There is no reason, I think, to apprehend the danger you advise against.” That is, if I understand the sentence aright, there is no reason for adopting such a policy to put down the rebellion. Am I right ? _ Well, then, let us apply a brief analysis. Slavery is the cause of the revolt. No one of common sense will deny that. Mr. Pomroy, of the Senate, in the title to his “ Bill to sup- press the Slaveholders’ Rebellion,” has given it the right name. Were it not for slavery, there would be no slave- holders to institute rebellion, and these traitors have told the world plainly what they are at, both in word and deed. They are forming a government based on slavery, and who does not believe that if they had the power, they would destroy freedom, and establish slavery everywhere, both North and South. They are striking every desperate blow, 88 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. both by sea and land, to cripple the Federal Government, to subvert the Union, and subjugate the people to their iron rule. They would cut all our throats, could they catch us, or reduce us to serfs. Why not, then, return the compliment—take the issue as proffered—strike the most effective blow at once, as they would do? Why not remove the cause of disorder, and thus relieve the patient? Why treat him so gingerly, handling him with gloved fingers, when he ought to be overcome by every instrumentality in our power? ‘Take the stinger from a wasp and he is harmless. Meet the issue plumply, squarely at a venture, then, and risk the consequences. Let the people take sides, both North and South, for freedom or slavery—for a free government or a slave government—and try the momentous issue by the essay of arms, as the slave- holding rebels have chosen. It is a good opportunity to test the question whether we - are to become “ wholly free, or wholly slave.” * * * If government and people are waging the war merely to kill the rebellion without killing the cause with it, and thus relieve ourselves and posterity from this ever-present, dis- turbing, mischievous and dangerous element, if that somehow is to survive, be let alone, left to live on, we still to be mixed up with it—in a word, if the Union is still to be cemented by the blood of the slave—* let it slide,” disband your ar- mies, and recognize Jeff. Davis’ Slave Confederacy. Better, even, the viper be next door neighbor than harbored longer in the family. Your desired tax law will affect us, personally, but little. Our real estate is trifling, and our income is considerably less than half of $800, but I have imposed on myself a vol- untary tax of $100 to help support the families of volunteers —which I shall pay reluctantly for the further prosecution of any such worse than aimless war as I have just men- tioned. J am too old and infirm now for camp-life and ac- tive service, but I can labor some yet at home—pay and encourage our heroic young men in a war for universal free- dom; but if this grand guiding star is to be shoved into the background, I can no longer urge our youth to-mingle their young blocd with slave soil, to be still pressed by the tread of the slave. Very respectfully, yours, C. Rospinson. MAJOR GENERAL FREMONT. 89 _ FATHER ROBINSON ON THE PRESIDENT’S -LETTER. [From the Herald of Progress. ] “Ts the Government still afraid of offending the South ?” I should judge so by reading the dispatch of President Lin- coln, modifying Gen. Fremont’s proclamation—in my opin- ion a very inopportune step, backward, to say the least of it. The people are getting bravely over such fears. They are beginning to be in earnest, and determined to put down, not only the rebellion, but the cause with it. “Opinion ripens as events hasten,” and they are beginning to comprehend that the two are indeed one and inseparable. ‘They should arouse and demand at once, not only the remedeling of the Cabinet—placing Fremont at the head of the War Depart- ment—but demanding also that the President issue a simi- lar proclamation forthwith, not, however, of that limited character, but embracing the whole of Slavedom; and de- pend upon it, they will do it ! One such step backward disheartens the loyal portion of the people more than any Bull Run disaster. One or two more such blunders and backslidings by the Government, and the people will give up all for lost! MAJOR GENERAL FREMONT. Sept. 22, 1861. j[From the Freeport Journal.] Permit a subscriber to say a few words through your col- umns, on the war. I think we have a right to speak, hav- ing a son and grand-son in the grand army of the west The latter entered the service at the first blast of the bugle, and has remained at his post, and from him we received re- cently a long and very interesting letter dated at “ Bird’s Point, Missouri,” and its tone indicates that he is full of the brave and dare-devil spirit of the soldier. The son has en- tered the gallant first Wisconsin Regiment, Company A, and in requesting our consent to enter the service, says, “Surely mother would not have her son simply a cowardly looker on 90 FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. while other mothers are sending theirs to battle? It is vastly better to hazard life, I hold, than to loose liberty and’ see the cause of truth and justice- suffer. Persuasion has been exhausted on these Southern tyrants, and force only is left, with which to convince them of the wrongs they have committed. I feel, therefore, the necessity of enlisting in some capacity in the struggle which our country is now making to preserve her name and liberties, and with hers, the liberties of the civilized world—for I feel that the fate of freedom in this conflict will be its fate the world over.” Besides, in other days we have ourself mingled in the bed- lam of battles for the common defense of our flag and coun- try ; and have now imposed a voluntary tax on our little in- come, of $150, on the account of, and for the prosecution of the war. Have we not a right to speak on the subject? In the Journal of September 11th, you say truly, “that the effect of the proclamation of the President in answer to that — .— of Fremont’s was heart-sickening. ‘There was a rumor, at one time, that he had been superseded. Of course it was false. The government would not be so supremely foolish as to thus cut its own throat. The truth is, Fremont has struck the key-note of the whole matter, and the people re- cognize it, and are bound to sustain him, Nothing more true than this; and while the government at Washington is splitting hairs about the late ridiculous law of Congress, which offers a bribe to the slave to enter the rebel camps and fight against us, as an indirect road to freedom, and ties the hands of the Commander-in-Chief and his Generals, Fre- mont seems to understand the exigencies of the case, and breaks through the “municipal ” fetters by the war power, and rises above it all. His proclamation frees most of the slaves of Missouri, and as I see, too, by your paper, he is car- rying out his well begun purpose by manumission. Let him take one more step—make one more forward move, and the work for Missouri will be completed, and shea free State. I hope to hear another proclamation from Fremont, mus- tering all the able-bodied freed slaves into battalion, arming and leading them against their worse than savage masters, at the same time calling on all the free colored men in all the States—in Canada as well—tojoin and swell the liber- ating army, help fight the great battle of freedom waged on MAJOR GENERAL FREMONT. 91 their account, thus save many white northern sons, and dis- enthrall their kindred and race. Against this measure the Government doubtless is still full of false delicacy, but the people are getting bravely over it. Let blows like this fall thick and fast in Slave States. Why not? While it is dif- ficult for us of the Free States to leave home to join the army on account of home work, the slaves are left behind, what are not taken along for camp service, to do the labor, while the masters muster to fight us. That the slaves on the plantation are just as much supporting the rebellion as the white men in the field, needs no argument to show, and without their help the traitors could not hold out a month ; indeed, they never could have raised a rebellion ! Why not turn their own guns against them, cripple this horde of national rascals at once, as they would do by us, had they a like advantage—end the war, let the oppressed go free, laying a broad and permanent foundation for perpet- ual prosperity and peace? I repeat, why not ? Messrs. Editors, will you please send a paper containing this article to each—our son and grand-son mentioned above, both of whom you know without my calling names, and their address—with our earnest request that they infuse among the officers of the army, among whom I believe they both hold rank, as well as among the rank and file, the above plan and policy to the utmost of their ability and influence. We have more sons, sons-in-law, and grand-sons, we could “Jay on the altar of freedom,” but will wait to see whether the Government and its Generals will strike this decisive blow, take the men already on the ground, as well as those more distant, the former of whom, I verily believe, would fight with a desperate purpose did they but understand they were striking blows for their own freedom. No school would be equal to the army, to teach the liberated slave a sense of self reliance and self-protection. Put arms in his hands, with an assurance of his having the ownership after the war, should he act his part well with them, then see if the tide of battle would so often turn against you for want of force. Assure him, including all colored men, of the same pay, rations, bounty, a piece of land off master’s plantation which will be forfeited to the Government—for remember, reader, the rebel slaveholders pretend to own all the land u 92 _ FATHER ROBINSON’S SCRAP-BOOK. south, cultivated or not—lI say, assure them equal chances with white soldiers, and see then if you would not send dis- may among all the rebel ranks and they help you mightily to carve the way to speedy victory and peace. Then will America have written out and rolled away the history of her shame. A glory lies in the lap of coming ages, of which the wildest enthusiast has never dreamed. | ©. ROBINSON. A PLEA FOR EMANCIPATION. Oct. 10, 1861. {From the Orleans American. ] To His Honor, SECRETARY: SEWARD: Dear Sir—Pro- bably the Government does not rest under the delusion that the Slaveholders’ Rebellion can be overcome and permanent peace established without removing the cause of it, which is slavery. The “irrepressible conflict,’ in some form, must and will go on ‘till we are wholly free or wholly slave.” Doubtless the administration would choose the former. Why not, then, strike the blow while you have the power to secure it ? It may be answered that the Execu; tive convened Congress to get instructions, and feels bound by its action. Very well; but the law passed by it on the subject ties his hands in that direction, and the question now arises—shall he remain tied, at the peril of the coun- try ? Under the war power—as we commoners understand it, who have to fight the battles—“ ehh * a ay) 2 ¥ * ‘n reid NSRESE Bop zag