Communications: For The Signal Of Liberty: Association And A...

Messrs. Editors - Perniit me to sny a word respectiiiff an article in your last number, entitled "Abolition of Slavery by Associaüon.1' I ara not apprehensive thot nny vcry Icgxa] rniud will be converted from the errors of Anti-Slavery seniiments by t, yet no fallacy or sophistry can be too fallacious or tophistical to go down the nrcks of sone. Especiallv while its author is leng and loud in pronouncing it correct - the very cure all. All that the nuthor of ihe artiele in question eays, thatmeans any thing, is a "Petitio principii." He assumes that it is a better sclieme for the abolition of Slavery. He proves nothing; nor offers to pi ove. I shali not attempt lo argüe the question, as il is not yet mooted; but merely glance at a few things contained in his chapter. It strikes me that instead of advancing in civilization, the scheme of Association as iww advocated, is a return to barban'sni: not uv.like the clans of ;he pist, and in sonie of the savoge tribes of the present oge. Tl loóles some like the Lodgcs of our American Indians; nnd seems to possess the peculiar disadvnntnnes of being liable to make the interest of the Association the interest of all, (and "what is everybody's business is nobody's business,') to open the woy for jealousies, confusión and discord. And I fancy, that in it the Divine proverb will be fullfilled, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."wunout :ne pttrcst purity or iicart, no Church, State, or Association wiil exist in harmony fora long while; aml however mucli they (or rather the Doctor) may snoer nt tiic term a "depraved heart," Experienée wil] tench them, if it has not vet, tliat stich is in existence aud will work in Associntion or ovt of Association. A change of circiimslaiices will no more correct the fixed deprnvity ol wicked men than a translation of Beelzebub to Heaven would make him a Seraph. His allusion to the Temperancc reform, and to Reformed Drunkards, is entireiy irrelevant. Their conversón of heatt to total abstinence is the sheet anchor of tbeir stcdfastness; and eocieties merely take theacknowledgment and sealing of i-heir bonds and present?; and such as are nol in heart fixed in Iheir purpose will backslide, be they where thcy mny. - Says a reformed drunkard, "When I resolved and re-resolved to let Rum alone, I returned to it like a Hog to the dilch. But when I saw its use to be an evil, and feil it so in my heart, I did not want it in my moutb." And now will their associations deüver them from the plague of rivalrj', of strife for rule, of lov, endless bickerin? for ofiice, anu snperioritj? fNay verily.5' They are paving the race course for such ihings. They are fitting their tall bark without ballast, tobe the sport of everv eale.It is nearly useless to follow your correspondent in any of his perigrinations; but I will try to touch sorae of his segmenta and sections. He lugs in British oppression, out of place as il is. Now does not every wel! informed man know that the oppression of England consists in their enormous taxes to Church and State. Throw off this iiicnbus, and the common people of Engïand, are well, extremely well situated. Keep up sucli taxation and neitherassociation, nor salt petre can helpthem. But more. Will not assocjations demand nnd creato a ewarm of officers and make a liltle Nobility? So I guess. He Btates as fit was so, that British subjects were iiï worse bondage than Airerican Slaves. But the dirTercnce. Oh ! one is inerely bound to work hard, and get a 6tinted living1, the other is made properly, bought and Eold! Enovgh. How many British 6ubjects annuolly flf.e from British bondage to seek an asylum as goods and chattels of an American slaveholderl Do any American Slaves flee to the bondage of British rule nnd oppresdon? - Verily, they are your judges." He states that labor is esteerned repuJsive and odlous amongns. Look nrotind our town and State, and see: is it so? lic mint as well say that total darkness had prevailed for the last sixmonths. I doubt mucii if as-sociation remedies idleness. Those who now wish to work, can do so at a profit; waies are bigh, and frueiüty and femperance secure a compeience. Those who don't and won't work now, thongh they go into association (nnd bv the way mnny 6uch seek itt) ihey won't find work any more agreeable, and they can ridn while olhers draw; and so they will go; wiiile those who honestly think that tliey can get a better living and work less bv associaiing j will find that their glass has iuverted the fig gure.A great mania disaffected the farmers of 'The East' a few yoars since; the cry was, go West and yo can live al.r.ost without work; but experience Iiaa taught the mnny, that ihey have had to work hard and then "die off' ad to property in the West. Watch your association lmbble, you will see t burst soon. Finally, Abolitionistp are fully advised that they must fail - Uiat associationists will succeed. That they are only loppingr the branch - es- As8ociationists are striking the root of Slavery. The principie of tho AntiSlavery Society islmmediate Emancipation; this looks to me ratlier radical; it is quite low down if not to the roots, and I fancy that the Doctor will, on taking accurate ubservation, find himself hacking avay on some very"And here lot me say, thathis allusion to yonr ub of the term depraved heart, shows how ]ttle he undestands of the uce of terina. lie scemalo tnke t for granted ili.vt yon mean what some j ultra divines mean (some Physical depravity) while neithor the Doctor nor nny other mnn enn oontrovert the fact thnt ;'mnny are evil and only evil continunlly," and thr.t iheir henits (the ruling purpose) are wrong and mean tobe wrong.