Fallston, 8th mo. 13th, 1847.
Friend Douglass:—Some time ago, I wrote the enclosed verses, and sent them to the National Era. They have not appeared in that paper, and I suppose the editor never received them, or does not care to publish them. Hearing you are in the neighborhood, I take the liberty of sending them to you, believing, if they are of any value, you, being the subject, can most appreciate them.
I saw, in some of the papers, a notice of a pamphlet being circulated in Maryland, containing a speech of Frederick Dougalss, with the following preface:—
‘The following report will show to Marylanders, how a runaway slave talks, when he reaches the abolition regions of this country. This presumptive negro was even present at the World’s Temperance Convention, last year, and in spite of all the efforts of the American delegates to prevent it, he palmed off his abolition bombast upon an audience of 7,000 persons. Of this high-handed measure, he now makes his boast in New-York, one of the hot-beds of abolitionism.’
After reading this notice, I undertook to write out, in verse, what seemed to me to be the thoughts and feelings of Southern slaveholders, regarding the subject of the pamphlet put in curculation by them. Whether they are truthful, you, no doubt, are perfectly competent to judge. Trifling as they may be, I offer them for your acceptance; and with the best wishes for all engaged in the downfal of slavery, and with strong hopes for their success, I am,
Respectfully, your friend,
Rebecca Weaver.

SLAVEHOLDER'S SOLILOQUY.
Presumptive Negro! Have you dared
To set at naught Columbia's scorn,
Although her delegates declared
You were not as a freeman born?
And seeing that you were not white,
They would not sit in silence there,
If they must have their ears polite,
Offended by the sound of air
Vibrating with a black man's preaching,
Although divinest precepts teaching!
You tell us ー 'When your honored sires
First raised the flag of Liberty,
They taught their children round their fires,
That all men were created free;
They told them that the God above,
Had favored them in bloody strife,
Because for human right they strove,
Freedom, and happiness, and life;
That all men equals wereーand Heaven
To all mankind, those rights had given.[']
'All men are equal'ーwell they knew,
Your fathers, what was needed then;
They saw the declaration true,
And sought the sympathy of men.
It gained the favor of the world,
Though now it brings you but disgrace;
For 'inconsistency' is hurled,
By every nation, in your face;
And oftentimes I see a blush
Glow on your cheeks, like hectic flush!

You say, too, Slavery is nursed,
Even as a serpent, in your land,
Until more sorely she has cursed,
Than pestilence or fiery-brand!
And if you would avoid her sting,
And know prosperity on earth,
You must destroy the blighting thing,
Or banish from your home and hearth;
For desolation sure will tell
Where slavery and tyrants dwell!
What! hast the impudence to stand,
And raise to Heaven unflinching eye,
And lift in air unfaltering hand,
And say, 'There is a Power on high,
Assures me that my soul's as fair
As yours, and whispers that my mind
With any here may well compare,
Though stored with knowledge and refined;
And that my form, is all its pride,
Is like to Christ's, the crucified!
What matter if the God of souls
Has taught you that your own is free!
And that no power on earth controls
The spirit, born of Liberty!
And says, that over all the earth,
Nature proclaims she's Freedom's child;
That demon Slavery had not birth
In sea, on rock, in woodland wild;
But the vile monster came from hell,
Where all her votaries shall dwell!'
We heed not abolition talk,
Nor care we for fanatic railing;
But if we had you, you would walk,
With chain and block behind you trailing!
And that high head would learn to bow,
And you would be so gentle spoken,
That e'en the oxen at the plow
Were not more tame and spirit-broken!
Though now you're manly, firm and brave,
We'd teach you
how to be a slave!
We'd mock at you!ーthough Britain's lords,
Charmed by your eloquence, have listened;
And thousands drank your truthful words,
And Beauty's eyes with pleasure glistened!
We'd persecute you!ーthough her none
Proudly have welcomed you as guestー
Thus proving, of all noblemen,
They valued nature's as the best;
Because beneath all shades they find
An aristocracy in mind.
Our institution we'll defend,
In spite of less important things;
And such are honor among men,
Jehovah's frown, and scorn of kings,
Though Heaven with all the earth combine,
Our priests are ready to baptize,
And say, it is a thing divine,
Established by a Power all-wise!
While politicians raise a whine,
And say, we know the Bible lien;
For't says the Maker, in his plan,
Made in his image only man;
And we have said, and say again,
Niggers are chattel, and not men!