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Letter From Joshua Leavitt

Letter From Joshua Leavitt image
Parent Issue
Day
17
Month
November
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
Letter to the Editor
OCR Text

New Yokk, üct. lst, 1C41. ar Brolher,--'Lhe tnultiplicily of caree devulve upon me in the present condilion of our organization in this city, and the c icBponsibililics which I have to meet as l itor of the Central puper and Secretary of the 1 National Society utterly prcclude me from ' cveu dreatning of accepling your kind l lation to attend the L'onvemions in ' gan. 1 should taka great interest in going J to that State at lÜie juncture had I any body with wliom i could leave my business hi-re; ' butihavc noi. 1 umst theiefore excuse myeclf, and I coufoss I do it wilh less ' lanco n leai nmg by the "Signal" that you have Mr. Biuxky among you. I ain very glad ho ia ihcie. It is a most seasonable and üppropriatö visie and I hope he wil! stay long enoiigb to visie most of the principie places in the .St:-.tc. I have at your rcqucör, writtcn a véry uvgent letter to Mv. Stantun in fayojr oThiagoing to Michigan; but I caunotsay I think therc is much probability he will go, as lic is in good gemand and doing inuch good where he 'u. I feel a particular desire to make an excursión to Michigan for many ïeasons. One is, that thcre a;e spread over it very tnany ofmyold friendo and correspondents, whom ï should rcjuice to take by the hand once moro. The other is, that I have cihvays, or at least lor many years taken a warm interest in favor of ihe settlement and improveraent of the West without the slighlest epprehciiEiun that its rapid growth would essentially injure the. East. - II is a short eighted view of ihings which would discourage the building up of the Western States, through fear of destroying theprosperity of the oid Atlantic States. - Wu have all one intcrcBt, as we havo the words oí Danitl Webstiír: "One Country -One Conslitulion-One Destimj." When the Erie Canal was firat opened, my father pas'scd through it to BulT.ilo; and on lus return to his o!d and rocky iarm on the mountiins of Wcptern Massuchusetts he was very anxious to scll, for lie thought it was inipossible ho could live there now that the Jarmer's on Gencssoe could send theirproduce to Boston for 70 cents a Ciot, whon il cost him a dollar. However, he could not Bell to his raifid, and so he staid and throve, as my brothers aro now doing and lwd kceps its price for tho most part thro'out the Eastern States, notwithslanding the iifinite exteDt of soil tliat is put into markei by the U. S. Government at #1,25 per acre. So fulile are the apprehensions with regard to the Free Siates of the Atlantic. - The Slave States ure different and the settlement of the New States s literally exhausting the hfe blood of the Oíd. Another ideáis worth BUggesting? the States of the North West are tobo settled. The land is inmarket, free to every man,hue, grade and nalion under Heaven. I am glad it is so, añdl honor especially the Senator of Michigan who dared to make his first move in Congressin favor of the Equal Rights of colored men to purchase a frechold in the National domains. 13ut surely in tlns diversity of character, education and language, which is flowing into the North West, it is of the utmost consequence to the Unity and purity of our National Institutions to have a Bprinkle of Americans, born and bred to freedom. I look back with much satisfaction to the hule effort which I made last winter in Jay memorial on VVbeat to bringr togetherm ene group as having one intereet, anding ono picture, 'the Free States of the North West. ï am not awarc that any persen has 60 present ed them. The Whcat product is iheir common inlerest; the chain of Lakes their common higluvay ; free labor the comtnon basis of tl'oir prospcrity, and the Liberty party must be their common rallying ground in Politics. Their soil has nu ver been awfully polluted by the tread oi a nlavo, find tliey have no common interest in favor of Slavery. But 1 must not extend these remarks. I hope your Conventions will bo kept up wuh spirit, and ifso, they annot but be productive of great goed. With much esteem, I am your fellow laborer,