Gerrit Smith and the Anti-Slavery Standard.

Messrs. Editors:ーI beg a small space in the columns of your paper, in order that I may call the attention of your readers to an article from the pen of Mr. Sidney Howard Gay, in the Standard of the 31st of August. The article to which I refer, is under the caption of "Changes," and principally relates to Gerrit Smith, Esq., and is highly seasoned with that disingenuousness and uncharitableness for which Mr. Gay is so remarkable.ーThe young gentleman's remarks commence well, but end ungracefully. By perusing his article, you will perceive, that if for the sake of a "change," Mr. Gay "raises a mortal to the skies," it is for the purpose of dragging him down again. But enough is said by way of introduction. Read for yourselves, and compare what you read with the life of this of this great-hearted philanthropist. The Standard admits that Mr. Smith is an abolitionist, yet he cannot let the opportunity pass without hawking at him. The vulture, when eversomuch pressed with hunger, will not destroy its own kind. Hear Mr. Gay:

"The tone of the first part of Mr. Gerrit Smith's letter refreshes an old abolitionist who is not so far carried away by the new movement as to forget after all, even if succesful, it will leave the abolition of slavery in the States a thing to be contended for as much as when Garrison first unfurled the banner of Immediate Emancipation. Though we do not agree with Mr. Smith in his view of the Constitution, and therefore can only consider his position as an absurd one, and his efforts to establish a political party upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of slavery as utterly futile, yet we cannot but respect the integrity which still maintains a position so hopeless, and the sincerity of which he gives so strong an evidence. But should he quite persuade us that the hope of the slave rests only in him and his party, we should indeed despair of the Republic when, on reading the closing passage of his letter, we learn that after all the anti-slavery cause is quite a secondary matter, and that the overthrow of that monopoly of which he is so distinguished a representative, is the direct and real road to the destruction of the monopoly of laborers. If Mr. Smith thinks himself a worse man than the slaveholder, his duty as a reformer is surely a plain one, and his field of labor is not only at his own door, but in his very land office."

When did Mr. Smith place the destruction of chattel slavery as a secondary thing to any of the oppressions that afflict mankind? In the spirit of his Divine Master, he labors to break every yoke. In the midst of all his arduous labors in the cause of true reform, he has ever looked to that measure as being calculated to remove all kinds of slavery. His language is, "I regard Land Monopoly, take the world together, as a far more abundant source of suffering and debasement, than is slavery." Take the world together, and you will find this remark to be true. In many parts of the world, where there is no chattel slavery, there do the iron heels of Land Monopolists grind out the life of the suffering poor. Behold Ireland! her mournful history records volumes. There is no slavery there, but the oppressions of Land Monopolists have engendered a lank and haggard famine, and the famine has swept away its thousands.

Again: let slavery be abolished in this country, and let the land and the labor monopolists have three or four hundred years the start of the emancipated, and still the free men will be heavy laden, with an up-hill course before them. Herein lies the secret of the trouble in the British West Indies. The old slaveholders are the landholders, and such they intend to be. The chains of the last slave on earth may be broken in twain, and still, while the unhold system of landlordism prevails, nations and people will mourn. But the moment that this wide-spread and monstrous evil is destroyed, the dawn of the gospel day will break forth, and the world will have rest.

But Mr. Smith is called a "a distinguished representative of the Land Monopoly." This charge is so utterly untrue, that it is not necessary to offer a refutation. There are three or four thousand poor men in this State who have received the gift of homes from Mr. Smith. These, and thousands of others, will testify against the charge. The most of his life has been spent in providing for the poor. Long, long before Mr. Gay became the salaried editor of the Standard, did Mr. S. "begin in his land office, and at his own door," to act in strict conformity with his principles.ーBut few persons are found who will accuse Mr. Smith with inconsistency. His motto is, Justice, Equality and Love to all men. He welcomes to his home men of all colors and of all creeds. He has but one table in his mansion, and that is spread as well for the black man as for the whiteーfor the rich and the poor. Some of our loud-mouthed and white-gloved philanthropists would do well to imitate his example in this matter.

Mr. Smith is a laborious man. His concern is, how he shall make others happy. His office is not the theatre of speculation, but an asylum for the oppressed. He takes a Christian view of civil government, and he withholds his suffrage from those who will not do the same.

H. H. GARNET.

Peterboro, N.Y., Sept. 7.