Chapter 61
M. L. WRIGHT.
"CLEVELAND, September 8, 1851. "MY DEAR FRIEND: "We received yours of the 11th, and were thankful for it. You doubtless know what is going on here, as Mr. Gray tells me he sends you the _Plaindealer_. Spirits told us the truth about the Clark family, etc. You will see my article signed 'A Friend of Truth,' which heads him off entirely and puts a stop to any further designs against Spiritual matters. I have another article ready; if necessary, I shall publish it. Burr is in hot water; one of his attorneys called on me a few days since, and tried to settle the matter and get it out of court, but your friends here turn a deaf ear to all his propositions. He called on me again yesterday, and asked me on what conditions I thought you would settle with him. (He not knowing that you had nothing to do with the prosecution.) I told him it could not be accomplished short of his acknowledging in every paper of the Union that he was a liar, a blackguard and a villain, paying the costs of the court, and giving you money enough to purchase a place in this city; and I did not know as _that_ would do it. He is badly frightened. Everything has been properly attended to, and we have no fears of the result. Bail has been given for costs and everything is right. "Now, my dear friend, do not allow anyone to influence you to discontinue this suit. Burr deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and for your own sake, for the sake of your friends, and for the sake of the cause in which we are engaged, permit it to go through. "Your visit here, though not a golden one, will, I doubt not, be the most important event in your whole life. The trial will not come off in the October term, but will quite likely the next. We must all 'keep cool.' Now, Leah, make up your mind to settle in Cleveland, where you have so many good friends, whom you know you can trust. We intend to visit you before navigation closes, if possible. "Remember me to Calvin, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your mother, Maggie and Katie, dear little Charlie, and may _good_ Spirits aid you in every emergency, direct you aright in all things, so that when called to exchange worlds, your earth life shall close like flowers at setting sun. So may we all live and die. My wife unites in love to you. "Ever yours truly, "M. L. WRIGHT." INTERESTING LETTER FROM MRS. AMY POST. The letter written by a venerable Quaker lady, who has for years been a neighbor and intimate friend of Mrs. Fish and the Fox family, speaks a language so plain that we have requested the privilege of publishing it, though not so intended by the author.--_Cleveland Plaindealer._ "ROCHESTER, June, 1851. "MY DEAR FRIEND, A. LEAH FISH: "I have often thought of thee and thy company since you left your beautiful home for an Ohio city, and have been much delighted to hear you have found friends who can appreciate the value and importance of this wonderful development to mankind. When I think of the very happy change it has made in my views and feelings, regarding the present as well as the future life, I feel anxious that all the world should become acquainted with it. It is a wealth I had despaired of ever obtaining--to be convinced that we have commenced to live a life which will never end--a life whose joys, too, are enhanced by our practices of goodness. I have always admired the doctrine and wished to believe it, viz., 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have,' etc.; and also, 'In my father's house there are many mansions;' but the belief I had on this point was always accompanied with a desire for more _positive proof_ of immortality. For some time before your family made me acquainted with this blessed Spirit-rapping dispensation, I had become more settled in the belief, and unreasonable but popular doctrine of there being no half-way house; but we must either go to Heaven or to Hell. But what am I writing this to thee for? Thee knows how happy I have been made, and how thankful I have been that you all have been willing to bear persecutions and revilings, self-denial and provocations, for the sake of the _Truth_, and clearing yourselves from the imputations of deception. Oh! could strangers only know as I have known the trials you have endured and the sacrifices you made the first two years, they could not be made to believe it an invention of your own, nor pursued for mercenary purposes. Thy mother has been so troubled and unhappy away from you all that I could not feel surprised at her accepting thy very kind invitation to come to you. The feelings of a mother are tenderly alive to the interests of her children. I know truly, therefore, I was very glad, for your as well as her sake, to have your own mother with you, as you have never before been without her guardian protection. "Please give my loving regards to Margaretta and Calvin, and do all the good you can. Believe me to be thy sincere and affectionate friend, "AMY POST." DOINGS AT THE DUNHAM--THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUALISM AS RAPPED OUT BY DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. (_From the Cleveland Plaindealer._) "So engrossed are we in worldly affairs, that we have but little time to investigate Spiritual matters, although opportunities present themselves twice a day at the Dunham House. There are, however, a few gentlemen of leisure who are taking up this subject systematically, and looking into its mysteries earnestly. Some dozen of the most intellectual minds in the city have formed a league to jointly, candidly, and honestly investigate this phenomenon, have already had two sittings, and report 'progress.' We have been kindly invited by this circle to attend whenever our convenience would admit, knowing that we had the moral courage to publish what we saw and heard, without stopping to inquire whether anything similar had been published fifty years before, or without consulting the masculine grannies of the day, whether it met their approval or not. By such invitation we attended a little while last evening, and found the company had progressed so far as to discard all tests of the _medium_, of the _Spirituality_ of the _communications_, and were actually (as they believed) taking lessons in philosophy from the ancient masters. After sitting a while, and hearing a great variety of rapping sounds, there was a loud knocker appeared which was simultaneously recognized, by several who had heard it before, as the signal of Benjamin Franklin. He was a long time questioned concerning Spiritual matters, sometimes answering by raps, and sometimes using the alphabet. It was in substance as follows: "Spirit is the great positive of all existence, and matter the great negative. There is an elemental difference between Matter and Spirit. Electricity and magnetism are always connected with matter, and belong to it. The dividing link between matter and mind is between magnetism and vitality. "There are different degrees of refinement in the electrical and magnetic media. Chemical affinities are electrical and magnetic. Cohesion and gravitation also depend on similar principles. "The time has not yet come when the true philosophy may be explained, but will soon. Investigation and experience will hasten it on. "Repulsion in nature is caused by stronger attraction. The ascension of a balloon from the earth is a fair illustration of the principle of repulsion. Everything in the universe takes its appropriate place by virtue of its elemental affinities, and can occupy no other place, without changing the relations of itself and every other body in existence. The earth, as also every other heavenly body, is caused to move in its appropriate orbit by the united action of every other body in existence, and cannot be made to come in contact with other bodies; for the combining influences of all the separate bodies mark out separate paths for each. Thought is mental motion, and is conveyed from one mind to another through an intermediate medium, which is put in motion by this mental action. This medium, in its refinement lies between the nervous medium and Spirit, and exists in every degree of refinement from the nervous fluid to Spirit. "Clairvoyance consists in insulating the mind of the subject, and in proportion as the mind is brought into clear contact with higher refinements of this medium, will the subject become clear-sighted. Biology, as used by Burr and others, is an improper term. Psychology would be a better word. The word Biology was used to make the subject a humbug. The phenomena attending Psychological (Biological) experiments, belong to the lower class of mesmeric influences--and pass from them through every degree, to perfect clear-sightedness. "Much further information was given which we failed to note. As the doctor promised to meet the circle again, we hope to report a more complete theory. After which the circle drew up close to the table, and various rapping sounds were heard upon the chairs, the table, the floor, etc. The sound of sawing boards, driving nails into a box or something hollow, was repeated several times."
