The Liberator

A PLOT DISCOVERED.

We regret to learn from a New York paper that a conspiracy to abduct Arthur Tappan has been discovered, for which purpose, it is said, two small craft are cruising in the offing, manned by persons determined to have him, if he is to be found in New York or any part of New England. Their object is to convey him to the South—put him to death under Southern laws, and then cite this as a precedent in all ulterior operations, having the least reference to the slave question. If Tappan has violated any law, it is a law of N. York and not of South Carolina. What would be the consequence of suffering these Hotspurs to come to our northern cities to take away and put to a cruel and ignominious death any citizen obnoxious to their censure? The prospect is too fearful to contemplate—it must be resisted at the very threshold.

There may be fanaticism on both sides—and there is. Do they suppose for a moment, that the destruction of the Tappans would be to settle the question? Far from it. Each drop of blood shed in violation of law and of right would fall into the earth to vegetate like the fabled teeth of the dragon, and produce thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.

We have been all along fearful that Southern men would commit themselves and go too far, and every step they take beyond the true line of demarkation, is to make enemies for themselves and for the abolitionists, friends. The South cannot seriously believe there is any immediate danger, and if so she should commit no act which would turn the current which now sets so strongly in their favor, in every state north of the Potomac. When the following rewards were offered for Arthur Tappan, are considered, it is not to be wondered at, if some desperate adventurers are really at work with the determination of carrying him off, for the sake of the reward. The several sums offered are:

At Charleston, S. C. $20,000
New Orleans, 20,000
Macon, Georgia, 10,000
Norfolk. 6,000

and in several other states different sums, making in the aggregate upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. The following is from the New York Herald of Sept. 21: On Thursday a highly respectable gentleman of the bar, who lives in Cedar st. and whose name and number we have received in confidence, became acquainted with the fact, in conversation with a gentleman from the South, while talking on the subject of slavery. There are at this moment, according to his account, cruising in our offing, two fast sailing craft from the South, manned by determined characters, in pursuit of Tappan, and steeled to the purpose of kidnapping him if he can be found in any part of New England or N. York. Sir. said the Southern gentleman, 'they are now off this port, and we shall have him at every risk.'—Philadelphia Journal.