For The Signal Of Liberty

It is graüfying to ihe benevulcnt mind to know that in a good cause efTort is not unsucccssful, and that God causes even ihe icrath of man to praise him, and the remainder he restrains. - These reflections are prodirced by the. rcsults of our Anti-Slavery movements the last kw months in this county. You have already been inlbrmcd of the contmencement of the excitem nt in the center and Southern part of the county in consequence of the lecture's of Mr. Stuart at Centreville, and White Pigeon and the subsequent proslavery lectiires by (Revü!) Mr. Ketchum.- ■ When these proceedihgs coinnienced last spring, not more thnn three poütical abolitionists were to be found in Cenfreville. Now we may safely countupon 10 to 12. Since Mr. Ketchum commenced lus Bi ble slaverij Iectures Cyrus Ingerson. Esq. , of our village, has also come out on rhe same side, not indeed, on the bilde slavery. but upon the itnpolicy of politica} abolitionism - for absurd as some of his arguments were in support of his position. he has too much good sense and honp.sty. or rtt least policy, to broach, the vile, unchnetian and barbarous doctrines of Mr. Ketchum. But my more immediate object in inserting this article is to lay before the public a synopsis of our proceedings in two recent antislavery meetings; the onc held on the lOi. and the other on the 3C th uit. at Centreville. At both of which the Rev. Mr. Cleveland of Marshall lectured; and others at the first. At the first meeting we had a goed audience from various part of the county - and the Rev. Mr. Korthrup of White Pigeon and Rev. Mr. Ncwberry also, addressed the meeting - the former upon the Ublc question and I tni'nk effectually demolished Mr. Ketchum's arguments. After Mr. Nörthrup had spoken, J. S. Chipman Esv,, (you will recollect Hm of the ramparts) requested to know if the meeting woild be open to discussion upon both sides. lie wns informed that it would, and he took thefloorand kopt it more than two hours, denouncing political aboütionists in the most unmeasured language - as incendiaries, disorganizing fanatics, &c &c. In fine, he spent his time in endeavoring to Iash himself and thr audience into a rage against th abo olitionist8as o party, forjust what hc is guilty of, viz: a disoigamzing disposition and spirit, and not they. And accordingly, after his tiomty thn.es repeated denunciations, and large assertions, without prooi; were ended,the meeting very coolly. and approprintdy in bis face, pased a resolution, utterly reprobating, as a party, al! measures, and denying all participation in the movements, tending to dissolution of the Union - and who do you think voted against the resolution, (although they had no right to vote at all?) Why, the modest Mr. Chipman and Mr. Ketchum, süIus in solo. At the conclusión of Mr. ChipmoH'eapeecb he pledged himself that Mr. Ketchum should rep!y lo Mr. Nörthrup, or he would. Accordingly in the cvening aftsr calling the meeting to order, Mr. Ketchum, who was present, was notified that the iloor wap open to him. But he backed out!! And Mr. Cleveland snent the eveninf in arcry ejpc.tire, hul tlesulfory speech, parlly in answér to the Ham-paris, and pnrtly in using up Mr. Ketchum's previous bible speeches; which he did, most thoroughly. Uut before closing tliis notice of the meeting orthe lOt'i, it may be well to notice one or nvo aniong the mnny curious displays of consistency of friend Chipman. After the most unlimitcd abuse of the abolitionisla, repeated o-er and over, he said, "let the negroes rise and figlit and conquer their liberties, as we did ours. wading through blood to frecdom - and he would be tholast man to lift a ringer to oppose thcm. 'l'ha slavery was truly a great stain upon our politica escntchcon, and he would gladly sec it finall; ended." And in five minutes afterward3 hc saic "Slavery, as an nstitution, could be supportec from the Bible." Then, if Mr. C. bo correct the Biblc supportsja "great stain." Again, Mr C. inquires, "What is gold compared with the liberty of onc human being?" and in the nex breath says "the constituiion is worth more than the liberties of all tho Africans who ever lived.' But I must hasten to notice very briefly the meeting of the 30th uit. Although the weather was unfavorable, we yot had a large and intelligent aucüence from all parts of the country. Mr. Cleveland delivcrcd, in the afternoon, a lecture on the effect and bearings of the constitution upon the slavery question in the United States. Anc he showed most conclusively, that the constitution is not a pro-slavery instrument - that the framers expected fhat under it slavery would soon bu extinguished; and that Washington, Jefierson, Pinckney, Henry, Franklin, Rush, Marshall , Story, and a host of others were of the same opinon - that most of them were strong abolitionists. fn the evening, Mr. Cleveland delivered n lecture upon the constitutionality of abolishing clavery in the District of Columbia and upon the propriety and necessity of political action to effeet this and many other objects for the eventual abotion of slavery. He spoke between two or three lours in ench lecture. and long as he detained the audiences, they showed not the least signs of impatience; and I hesitate not to say a ball is rolling ïere which will, at no distan t period, place St. Joseph county, ïfnot at the head of the anti-slavery movement in the State, at least in bold reicf in the good cause. Ifl had room I would sny somethingmore, particularly respectingiriend [ngcrson's lecture, and possibly may recur to the subject on another occasion.