F[rancis] Hawley to Frederick Douglass, December 24, 1856

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 despotism seems interwoven with the interior life of the nation. Under the teachings of slavery and its blood code, the nation has been educated into the spirit and practice of the perfection 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 influence 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 degree 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 peaceful termination of slavery; but if, in the councils 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 risings. 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 American 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 resolutions, 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 anguish 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 matter 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 abeyance. 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 we would not be slaves, 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