For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

THE BASIS OF ANNI-SLAVERY EFFORT

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ: DEAR SIR:—

Permit me to "bear my testimony" in vindication of the principles laid down as "The
Basis of the Anti-Slavery Effort," in an editorial
in your more than valuable and ably conducted
paper, under date of 11th ultimo. Who, that is
an Abolitionist of the , but that
must feel the force and truth therein advanced!
Yes, Mr. Douglass, my brother, much, and far
the most that is now called Anti-Slavery, lacks
the vital principal that it needs to have, to make
it "practicable." The heart sickens at the sel
fishness and low moral standard of many op
posed to, or who profess to be opposed to that
most damnable of all damnable "Institutions,"
AMERICAN Slavery. Were people but honest
in their professions, they would have long since
hurled that hellish monster to perdition where
it belongs;

People, Patriots, Republicans, profess to hate
Slavery, and yet will not do anything to ABOLISH it for fear that it will interfere with
State Rights; (?) they should say State Wrongs; and for fear that it will cause a dissolution of our "Glorious Union." The sooner a Union is dissolved that upholds such a blasting, withering, such a Heaven-defying, hell-upholding system, the better. Rather than that Slavery should be sanctified by the United States Constitution, far better had it never been formed; if it should be proved that it tolerates Slavery, the sooner it is broken into atoms the better.—"The Rights of Man" are dearer and more sacred than any written Constitution! The abolition of Slavery will never be the means of dissolving the Union; but unless Slavery is abolished, and that soon, Liberty will not only in jeopardy, but, will be abolished.—

The "signs of the times" fully show it, and wise are those who take heed in time. Nearly twenty years ago, I remarked in an article on the subject, Who would have thought a few years since, that in these United States, any man would have dared in the name of Law to imprison a citizen under the circumstances in which Passmore Williamson, Esq., was deprived of his Liberty? Truly, if such is Law, the sooner it is abolished, the better; and in its stead the
"Higher Law" established! Could it ever
have been imagined that the Executive Chair
should be filled by such a
Southern Masters as now occupies it in the
person of Franklin Pierce; and he from New
England, from the "Old Granite State?" But
so it is, and so it will be and worse, if more
Anti-Slavery PRINCIPLE is not manifested,
and that speedily!

A very striking evidence of the want of
principle is exemplified in the Kansas move
ment, and as you justly remark "out-Heroding
Herod in the development of that murdering
spirit of caste, which in this country, pursues
the unoffending black man because he is black
from the cradle to the tomb." To a person of
a reflective, intelligent mind the subject will
present itself as full of wicked inconsistencies;
for while in the very act of proscribing slavery,
the Free (?) State people also proscribe not
only the unhappy victims of Slavery, but also,
the nominally free colored people of the United
States, who are entitled to every right
and privilege that they, themselves; are and tak
ing into consideration the conduct of the Free
State men, the colored people are even enti
tled to more rights and privileges, thereby

proving themselves to be unworthy of their
own Freedom, were it not that Freedom is the
right of all who have not forfeited it by crime.
I am forcibly reminded of a volume,
of Tracts and Pamphlets which I read in my
youthful days, many years since; I obtained it
from the Philadelphia Library. Every person
should read that book; I do not recollect its
title. It is compiled from a series of articles
published originally before, during the time of
and before, and after the Revolutionary War;
but I think they were all written previous to
the commencement of the present century. I
think I have never seen or heard more ultra and
radical Abolition sentiments. Talk about
"Modern Abolitionism" as though it was some
thing new, something ultra! I wish that Ab
olitionism was as good now, as thorough as it
was in those days, and then with the increased
number of Anti-Slavery people in
this "day and generation," there would be no
difficulty is driving the huge monster from its
—and nothing ever had a firmer
grasp—into . But to the "Tracts or
Pamphlets" above alluded to. Among the
great amount of other good reading, the sub
ject of the inconsistency of those who were
striving for their own rights, while at the same
time they were regardless of the rights of others,
was shown up in its true color. And what
were the which the American people
were subjected to by Great Britain in comparison to the which colored Americans re-

ceive from the American Nation?

Allow me to allude to one subject more in
your "Basis of Anti-Slavery Effort," and I shall
have done troubling you with my long article.—I refer to the "Union" of Anti-Slavery people. Surely, surely, whatever troubles and trials we may have to encounter from our enemies, in our to advance the Holy Cause of Freedom, there is no room for "Quarrels" among ourselves; and let happen what will,

"There should be peace at home."

It has ever been a painful subject to me to know that there is so much dissension among the professed Anti-Slavery people and true Abolitionists. I have greatly deplored it, and have always been trying to use what little influence I might possess to bring about a Union.—Oh! what an amount of good might have been brought with each other, turned all our force against the — Can not we learn wisdom, if not in any other way from our enemies, and the enemies of Freedom, the Slave But bad as is the want of Union among ourselves, it is not perhaps the worst that we have to encounter, but something
that is ultimately connected, with it; in many
instances the of our want of Union; the
disposition to for the pur
pose of enlarging our ranks, by taking in those
among us who are not of us. To succeed, we must
have Principle, and if principle will not gain
us numbers, our case is hopeless so far as num
bers are concerned. To "lower our standard"

to accommodate those who will not go with us
in , is not only "suicidal," but also
; and we are dull of appre
hension if we cannot see it. I have ever re
gretted—and I increasingly regret it that there
is not a Union of the Liberty Party and the Gar
risonian Abolitionists; they are the only or
ganizations that are true to the SLAVE; the
only ones who can be depended upon. And the
Liberty Party well nigh made "shipwreck" of
themselves when they voted almost in mass for
Martin Van Buren. That was a heavy blow for
us. I sometimes doubt whether we have yet
recovered from the shock. I did not vote for
Mr. Van Buren, although importuned consider
bly to do so, and waited upon by committees,
and ridiculed by some who had formerly be
longed to the Liberty Party, and among the
number, Honorable Charles Durkee. Cannot
any means be devised to unite the Garrisonians
and Liberty Party together, without either or
ganization sacrificing principle? It would
seem that there can be; there certainly ought
to be.

Yours, for "Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity," without regard
to Color, Sex, or Nation,

JACOB LyBRAND.

ST. NICHOLAS, M. T., Feb. 7, 1856.