For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

LETTER FROM MRS. B. D. HAWKS.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ: DEAR SIR:—

Grim Oppression stalks over the wide earth
with iron sceptre and gory hands, dispensing
misery and death in every path. The rich oppress
the poor, the strong crush the weak, the
wise defraud the simple, the pale face bruises
with many blows his darker skinned brother, and
last, though not least, man oppresses his sister
because she is a . It is difficult to get
the tyrant to stand upon the platform of justice,
and acknowledge his victim entilted to all the
rights and privileges he claims for himself.—
It is so grateful to the arrogance of human nature
to hold the destiny of his fellows in his
own hands, but it is just as grateful to the
righteous and benevolent to accord all
beings, male or female, bond or free, the same
which he thinks good and right for himself, and
this is the only true test of any person's avowed
principles. A man may profess to be a lover of
Freedom, and preach deliverance to the captive,
because it gratifies his natural feeling of benevolence,
rather than from a sense of justice;
and because the All Father has implanted the
principles of Justice and Liberty in every soul,
thereby, making it wicked to encroach upon the
innate rights of the weakest man or woman.—
In discussing the rights of human beings, sex,
color or condition, should never enter the controversy,
but the fact that whatever is necessary
for the perfect development of one, must be
necessary for all, possessing the form and nature
of humanity. But does the southern slave
holder receive this truth? Ah, no! He finds
it very agreeable to have slaves to go and come
at his nod and beck, and minister to his caprices
and lusts; and to justify his position, will
refer you to 25, 42. "Both
thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids which thou
have, shall be of the heathen round about
you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
Moreover, of the of the that do sojourn among you, of them

ye buy, and of their families that are with you,
which they beget in your land, and they be
your possession. And ye take them as an
inheritance for your children after you, to inherit
them for a possession: they be your
bondmen " Likewise the man who
makes sex a rule for the dominion of man, and
the subjection of woman, will refer you to 1st
Peter 3, 1. "Ye wives be in subjection to your
own husbands, that if any obey not the word
they also without the word be won by the conversation
of the wives, while they behold your
chaste conversation coupled with fear." A
certain clergyman throws light upon this text
in this wise. "Fornication was prevalent then
as now," and Paul would say, "Wives submit
yourselves to your own husbands, and not to
others; be chaste and fear to do wrong; or flee
fornication." Tyranny, that hideous monster
clings with unrelenting grasp to every straw
when he sees his power waning, and the "divine
right of beings to rule" was written in letters
of blood ere freedom could unfurl her beautiful
banner, on which was stamped the truth of
"." The heroes of the revolution
were exultant in their newly acquired liberty,
and Tyranny hoping to save something,
cunningly excited their and induced
to vote to all citizens of twenty-one
years, the exclusive rights and privileges
of legislation, leaving their , , and
, the same rights and privileges accorded
to "idiots and lunatics." The same principle
which enfranchises woman holds the slave in
bondage, and the "lawless notion" Woman's
Rights is foster Brother to "Freedom for the
Slave." "All truth is God's truth," and it is
worse than folly to attempt to blot out one
truth that another may shine more clear. Universal
Liberty is written upon the blue sky, and
the broad earth; the winds and waves whisper
it to the oppressed, and it finds a long loud echo
in every heart. Tyranny may scathe the
soul of man and woman for centuries to come,
yet the truth is written upon the everlasting
throne of God, and its light will shine o'er the
unfolded pages of eternity.

The laws which govern mind and matter are

the same now as in the first hour of creation.—
Notwithstanding man's two fold nature, he was
perfect until he violated the laws of his being,
then came warfare. The harmony hitherto existing
between the mind and body was broken,
a contest seems to have begun, each striving for
the subjection of the other; yet the elements
and the laws which govern them remain unchanged.
Paul says, "For I delight in the
laws of God after the . But I see
law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is my members." This
proves that it is a law of the mind to; love the
law of God, or to "" in it, but the propensities
of the flesh, or the "law of sin" which
is in the "members" bringeth the mind into captivity.
When man loves God with all his
might, mind and strength, and his as
, he but obeys the innate laws of his being,
and our Savior took upon himself human
nature, and taught us how to perform this great
command.

Truly yours in the
cause of human rights,

B. D. HAWKS.