Communications: Extract Of A Letter From S. B. Treadwell

In reiling the accaunt n the Signal and other papers, of tho lato inobocratic outruge upo n Milton W. Hopkins, while at the iou.h. for ihe benefit of his health, (which has heen on the decline for some years.) [ was involuntarily led fnr the moment to ':calculate the valuo" of a Unit n which tolerntes and commissions the Iav!( sa encmies of human liberty in Congress and ovci the land by concerted pro-slavery commitioes. Sec. to hunt down the true friends of liberty. nnd if possilile to extiiiguish or suppress ihe las' spnrk of huniauiiy in the nation, in the church ;ind the Stare. Bat I must forbear; for have not we of the North, who have alwayp had the pciar. (had we hut had the heart, to control this na. ion for the rights of mankind.) been wantonly and mos wickedly plunging thousnndd of our unofTending fellow beings iiuo cruel bondnge, not only by our consentivg'to the original criminal compact, but by our volunta) i ly unnexing set en addi.i nul slc.v2 slatcs, and by our coniinuei! eiïorts to NATIONALIZE and "INTERNATIONALIZE" so diuadful astuto cúrseos that of human s'avcnj IShall we not. then, for the sake of the slave who is sufiering so much by our own pastas well as present wickedne?s, humbly and patiently bear these premonitions, as 1 fear, of far g.rcater retribaticc ji.-sticc to come upon us. feel ing meanwhilc for our cwn bondmen " as bound uit them," until we will exercise lie same poitical power by whicli we have "framed this gieat mischief by a law," to i'lreuk t'ic y'onC (f theoppressor and let the oppressed go frec." The North cav. if shf ic'.l', speedily redcem the slnvc ahiseve the vali -n. if indeed the measure of our iniquity be not already full, and the nan'on thus fitted for sudden destructionü Surely the North oitght to do this. Ifsheiri:7 not, hov can she expect the judgments of Iloaven to fall ligliter upon her own heaJ thnn upon the South? Whnt judicial biindness ia it in us of the North longer to expeclto make the South the ':scape goat" of our own eins! The Sou:h have but used the cruel whip. and the blood stained soil, which the North from the beginning, have so f:iitb!ully furnished to theïr hand, and which we have ev?r had the power and the rigfit to withliold. if we would. Whnt has JMorthern prU-nded' abhórrenbe to Southern slavery ever av.iiled, while Nortkern rotes have ever been r-ipidly increasing and extendingir. Would it then bemorally right, for tho people f the North, as tnuch as they are themselves suffering by themonstreus and merciless slacc power of their own creat:on, to arise at once for disunion and leave the heavy chains of bondage, which we have foiged and fastcned upon hirrj because we are now beginning to fee! the weight of these same chains upon ourselvcs and ourchildren by comparatively slight retribtttion? Shall we not rather speedily a:id tremblingly retrace our steps and Iet ';patience have her perfect work." whiie we stül snoifice and lübor assiduously to undo the dreadlu) deeds ofdnrkness we have done, thus timely bringing fortii "i'ruiis mete for repen tance." ('an we not yet lienr Ihe l deftiger of our "zchile s'utcnj" which grows out oi the RKAVY HAND of our :;black elavery?" Arnid all t!io expe-Jient changes of pro-slavery poliiiciana. may the true friends ofiiberty ivi-vei ngain be deeeived hy them, but ever keep ihcir eyc s'tipl:., nnd thcir hoort int.chl upon the slavc) n whose speedy a-,d cutiré rcdcmpü'on we so clearly seet'ieonly hope of silvation for our country. We must never ;l(S3end from our high calT.ng of redeeming the sluve and ihe nation 10 uber and lieeitful ísíuea with tlic eneaiies of the siave. While the long worshipped idols of silvcr. iik] giilii. nnd paper, an:l paity, (palitical or eci'.lesiast'cl.) sh-ill bc kept up bet wee li the oyes of die people nnd the slave, the mtion will continue o groan un Ier ts accumulafcd cur e ol bíaík and white slavery. The judgrnents of -hcavcn now upon us will never befaverted till the, nation ceases its oppfesaion. What will mere pro-sl: vjry N( rthern and Soutlicrn tarifl', or l'ht7iic league" compromisets ever do ior the slave. and to ren'ove the cryVffg sin of oppression from our s'nvery curised Inndl STothing surely I u' to r ivet tle chains of aiaVérj .Inner and lirmer up'in the slave and the nation The bittere: t proshv.ry elesnents North nnd South, mijht well uniie in sudi a aeceitíul sluvebreeding, cotton-growing and"o P1 -Leí Ua líVt;r u u inore Nürtiíuin o: Jouth' rn or 'huno le tgiè,l' party, but on AntiSü,v:ry and a tí. n pariy-, while arational hope c-i::ims of redueming the slavc and saving tac Unioh. A movement so deceptivens thntof a pretended Northern or high tariíi' pany, ltleagtud" w'uli ?laveholding coitun growors, and headed by one .){' ihe most arch slarc-bresding co npromiseis ever made of CLAY, would, it' poasible proveto be a greater 'g'ulj trap" Tor ihe real frieniL o libcity at tlic North than was the Tip and Ty and "hard eider" "humbugü" Let the frionds ol liberty diead such an embrace as the embrace oí death. At a superficial view the écheme would seem to comninnu itselfto Northern cupidiiy, whtch mlgbt ngain, just for t'jthié on.ee." liUll after clcciu," mukc thousnnds. wlio thinH more of "oti'ter grcat int uresis" than humaniiy, fcrct tlnt lime was a slave in our c luntry. The strong probauili'.y is. howcver, that the oíd noithern all'us of ihe ilivocracy will run an unprecedented race of serviliiy to ihe tíouth till ltí!4 to appease their former Southern masters, iliateven the new Northern alües of the oíd slave wnnsUr will be ashanied ordiscuuruged ia longer shaking the slavery bush, white the i%locos" are so sure to caich the bird. The South wiSl h:ive litile to do with any Northern party that ehall in;.niti.st cuy kenes' sympaihy with liberty or humaniiy. (ntrigue. deception, or open tyranny, will be ihe order of the day among all pro-slavciy poliiicianj. May the hopes ofall uien and all pariies; that nvake s'.avery thcir strong tower, sooa be as ropes oí sand - ns castles in the air. I am at present decidedly opposed to any attempt on the part of the friends of liberty to advocate an uncondi'.ional dissolution ol the Unitil. But should Texas bé annexed te the Union, the natWn dragged by the s' v poiccr into a calami tous war wr.h Mexico, with Englnnd, and with numerous Indinu tribes, to defend the slave liada on the high seas, and u pupport and perpetúate , t!ie'end)ês'S enslavcn-.ent ofihe African race in , our country. I fully beüeve the "Alniigtuy hns no aitribute ;hit coull take part against the slave in such an unhnüowed contest," andthnt no people hnving the i!fear o" God before their eyes" covld. or icouLd. ever engnge in 6uch a war. In such an evenr, ditíaolutión. or the frown of ileaven, would be our only aliernative. There cortainly is a point in human oppression, bevond which endurance ceises to bc a vinue, bui resolvcs itiulf into pusillinimity and cowa dice. So thought our fnthers - so they acted when they aroseas one mon and dissolved their political conmetion with the tyrann cal power that oppressed thein. But ti return a moment to the case of Mr. ilopkins, concerning whom I took my pen more particular] to sny. a word. Perhnps 1 feel a more lively interest in this case than I have in mostol the similar cases, and s:ill more ñggrovated odé s. which have occurred wahin a few years in our country from the same cause, to wit: sl;very.for the reason that I was peisonnlly and intimatcly acquainted wi;h Mr. Hopkins for ten years, in Albion. N. Y. , his former place of rt-sidenie. He was, during that time, an Eider in the fre.byterian Church. much esteemedand bekved He is n man nbout 53 verrs of age. intelligent, amiable in lus disposition, gentlemnly in he manners, and so f-ir as I know, uniformly n coosistent and devoted Christinn. He hnd a religjously educated and highly respectabln family. toiisisring of a wife nnd eight or nine children. for whose support lus honett and perseveriig industry has been well known. P S. - If the slavery outrages in Con'tt'SS, upoa AdaniS iind GiddingS fail o oroueo tlie long injured people of the North (o a jus; sense of their subvertcd rights and libenies, il would certainly seem that their deen slumbers are such as indícate a i uil preparation for a degraded vassalage. O ihat a venal par'y press would sound ihe nlncn; ín loutler and more fearless tonesü