For Frederick Douglass' Paper

LETTER FROM BETSEY D. HAWKS.

FRIEND DOUGLASS:—The perusal of W. J. Watkins' speech, delivered at Columbus, Ohio, in the first day of August, has awakened "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." The wealth of genius, and the gemlike flash of intellect, sparkle on every page. But more than this, the moral grandeur of the infinite mind is happily reflected through the entire speech. Can "goods and chattels" thus electrify the human soul? True, the perfection of nature, the polish of art, and the light of science may never inspire pleasing emotions; but they can never elicit that noble enthusiasm, that intense thrill of joy, as when thought echoes thought, or spirit answers spirit, which is but the realization of the pure happiness of heaven. The true lover of freedom desires that its blessings should be enjoyed by every human being, whether
his complexeion vie with the snow-wreath, or the curtain of night. Those who would give liberty to "science-gifted sons," and withhold it from nature's uncultivated children, know not the first principles of freedom, have never worshipped at her beautiful shrine, nor tasted of the sweet waters which flow from the fountain of her greatness.—In past times the remark has been uttered by scornful lips, that the abolitionists were only a few "discontented, fanatical men," and many "weak, silly women;" but now we see their ranks crowded with men of talent and learning, and "honorable women not a few." Mr. Allen, formerly of McGrawville, expressed the sentiment, that the most efficient workers in the anti-slavery cause were those whose hearts had been pierced with the scorching iron of slavery.—Those who learned not this truth, nor yet perceived the servile and dependent position of woman, have wondered why she was almost universally the friend of the slave.—From time immemorial, woman has been the slave of man, the victim of his greater physical power and ungoverned passions. Even in Christian America, the "land of the free and the home of the brave," woman
is disenfranchised, denied the rights of citizenship, and classed with idiots and lunatics! The slave mourns that his children are sold away from him, and the statutes of our free State empower the father "by his deed, or last will, to dispose of the custody and tuition of a minor child, while under twenty-one years, to another person," which law is no dead letter, as many broken-hearted mothers can testify. Is it strange that woman can feel for the bereaved slave-parents?

Compare the following: WHEREAS, my wife Hannah, without just cause or provocation, has left my bed and board, all persons are herby forbid to harbor or trust her on my account, as I shall pay no debts of her contracting after this date.

MERRILL DOTY.

August 20th, 1854

RAN away from the subscriber, my boy John. He will probably try to pass for a white man, as he has straight, brown hair and black eyes. has lost two of his front teeth, bears a scar over the left eye, and a brand of the letter S in the right hand. Whoever will give information or return said slave, shall be suitably rewarded.

HARRY SLOCUM.

Some will say that such cases are rare, and that man needs such protection, that he may not be liable to pay debts of which he has no knowledge. What man with his strong arm and superior intellect make laws to protect himself from weak women, whom he has ranked the insane and iditotic persons? Preposterous! Next to the love of life, the love of power seems to be the strongest passion of the human soul. Every man possessing a common share of the nobility of manhood, must feel his cheek glow with shame when he observes a notice like the above in any of our public prints. The wife who visits her parents or other relations without asking permission of her "liege lord" and owner, and on taking up the morning paper, reads herself advertised as having left his "bed and board," might sympathise with the bondman who believed himself entitled to the "right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," when he is seized by human bloodhounds and taken back to the prison-house of bondage. "All rights for all," is an excellent motto.

Yours for freedom,

B. D. HAWKS.