For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

LETTER FROM F. HAWLEY.

PETERBORO, Dec. 24th, 1856.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESQ.: DEAR SIR:—
Your Editorial remarks upon "The Slaves
Rising" pleased me well. For some time the
conviction has been gaining upon my mind,
that the only hope for the slave, under God, is to
be found in His own right arm. The mass of
anti-slavery men do not demand the abolition
of the system in the States. The spirit of des
potism seems interwoven with the interior life
of the nation. Under the teachings of slavery
and its blood code, the nation has been educa
ted into the spirit and practice of the perfec
tion of despotism. Voluntary emancipation on
the part of the South supposes the existence of
a goodness that does not exist. And what hope
is there that it every will exist? Will the influ
ence of a pro-slavery church ever originate it?
Will a church, in which love, justice and mercy exists only in "pious talk," and whose spirituality is without moral perception and without
conscience, reform the nation? Never. Then,
what right have we to expect that such a de
gree of Christian principle will ever exist at
the South as to lead to voluntary emancipation?

Thus I am forced to the conclusion, that if
the slaves are ever free, they must, at least,
"strike the first blow." Would to God, that
the slaveholders would hear the voice of God,
in his word, and as heard in thunder tones thro'
all history, and would repent, before an awful
retribution overtakes them, and they reap as
they have sown! I do intensely desire a peace
ful termination of slavery; but if, in the coun
cils of infinite wisdom, it must go down in blood,
my heart responds, "Thy will be done." As a
nation, we are pre-eminent in guilt, and richly
do we deserve to be made to drink to the very
dregs of the cup of divine vengeance. Insurrections on the part of the slaves are evidently one
of the most effectual methods for terminating
slavery. For many years the slaveholders
have appeared to feel secure, generally they
have slept soundly; they have received their
food at the hand of the outraged bondman,
with but little fear. They have believed that
the horrid penalties over the heads of their
victims were sufficient to deter them from any
effort to strike off their own fetters. Their security has rested solely upon the fears of their
victims.

I can but rejoice to the the foundation of
their false security shaken. I see the star of
hope for the slaves in these contemplated ris
ings. When all, that slaveholding ingenuity

can invent fails to generate a sufficient amount
of fear in the minds of the enslaved to deter
them from giving the fatal blow—then will be
swept away, as with a flood the foundation of
their peace and quiet. Only let insurrection,
even on a small scale, follow insurrection in
quick succession first in one State and then in
another, and ere ten (the number of plagues
that fell on Egypt) should transpire, the Amer
ican Pharaohs would be preparing to let the
people go. Their own guilty fears would be a
more potent instrument to torment and death,
than all the weapons of the oppressed.

In the graphic language of one of your reso
lutions, when the slaveholder shall be "made to
dream of death in his sleep, to see visions of
death when awake, to apprehend death in his
dish, and drink death in his teapot"—then
surely will the charm of his guilty confidence
perish—then will the confession be extorted
from their iron hearts, "We are verily guilty
concerning our brother, in that we say the an
guish of his work, when he besought us, and
we would not hear, therefore is this distress
come upon us." I believe it to be in accordance
with the history of the fallen world, and Gods
dealing with it, that the enslaved should be
mainly instrumental in gaining their freedom.—In this way will the superlative wrong of slavery be demonstrated and God's judgment concerning it read of all men. In this way will
the slaveholders be convinced that their victims are men, and that they appreciate liberty,
and having gained it themselves, will, as a mat
ter of course, maintain it, as whatever cost, and
thus will be spirit of slavery, however rife in
the hearts of the oppressors, be held in abey
ance. Though thousands of the oppressors
should fall in the struggle, it would only serve
to deepen their convictions that they were only receiving a "just recompense of reward."—
Thus would the enslaved place themselves on
an equality with their enslaved, commanding both their fear and their respect. It is in this
way that we as a nation have commanded the
respect and held in fear England, and all other
nations, because , reducing
to practice the maxim "that resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." My own observation and experience as the result of spending
over fourteen years of my life at the South, has
contributed to lead me to these conclusions.—
I was a citizen of South Carolina in the year
1831—the year when what is known as Nat
Turner's insurrection took place. 62 whites,
and the Lord only know how many of the enslaved, lay weltering in their own blood. A
wave of terror with the force of a tornado

passed over the whole South; a sense of guilt
and insecurity rested like a mountain on the
public mind. So potent was the influence of
this local insurrection, that Virginia came near
adopting measures to terminate the accused
system. One more such, to have followed in
quiet succession, would certainly have settled
the question in Virginia, if not in other slave
States, in favor of freedom.

O, that this slaveholding nation were wise,
that they would consider the judgments of God,
that they would ponder the history of the past,
and repent! "Then would their light break
forth as the morning, and their health would
spring forth speedily, and their righteousness
would go before them, and the glory of the
Lord would be their reward." Why will this
guilty people defer repentance, until taught
their duty in lessons of blood? If the North
can be so abolitionized as to give their sympathies to the enslaved, withholding all aid to
the oppressors in the coming conflict, an important result will be gained,

Very truly yours,

F. HAWLEY