Freedom Township (part 1 of 4)

Preface

There is, perhaps, little need of detaining the kind reader, even for one moment, in this the vestibule of our Temple of Liberty, to state the motives and reasons for the publication of this collection of Anti-slavery testimonies.

The good cause to which the volume is devoted ; - the influence which must ever be exerted by persons of exalted character, and high mental endowments ; - the fact that society is slow to accept any cause that has not the baptism of the acknowledged noble and good ; - the happiness arising from making any exertion to ameliorate the condition of the injured race amongst us, will, at once, suggest reasons and motives for sending forth this offering, which, while it shall prove acceptable as a Gift Book, may help to swell the tide of that sentiment that, by the Divine blessing, will sweep away from this otherwise happy land, the great sin of slavery.

Should this publication be instrumental in casting one ray of hope on the heart of one poor slave, or should it draw the attention of one person, hitherto uninterested, to the deep wrongs of tlie bondman, or cause one sincere and earnest effort to promote emancipation, we believe that the kind contributors, who have generously respon- -ded to our call, not less than the members of our Society, will feel themselves gratified and compensated.

The proceeds of the sale of the "Autographs for Freedom," will be devoted to the dissemination of light and truth on the subject of slavery throughout the country.

Be Up And Doing

Can nothing be done for Freedom? Yes,, much can be done. Everything can be done.. Slavery can be confined w^ithin its present bounds. It can be meliorated. It can be, and it must be abolished. The task is as simple as its perform-- ance would be beneficent and as its rewards^ would be glorious. It requires only that we follow this plain rule of conduct and course of activity, namely, to do, everywhere, and on every occasion what we can, and not to neglect nor refuse to do what we can at any time, because at that precise time and on that particular occasion we cannot do more. Circumstances define possibilities. When we have done our best to shape them and to make them propitious, we may rest satisfied that superior wisdom has, nevertheless,^

But we can, and we must begin deeper and lower than the composition and combination of factions. Wherein do the security and strength of slavery consist ? You answer, in the constitution of the United States, and in the constitutions and laws of the slave-holding States. Not at all. It is in the erroneous sentiments of the American people. Constitutions and laws can no more rise above the virtue of the people than the limped stream can climb above its native spring. Inculcate the love of freedom and the sacredness of the rights of man under the paternal roof. See to it, that they are taught in the schools and in the churches. Reform your own codes and expurgate the vestiges of slavery. Reform your own manners and customs and rise above the prejudices of caste. Receive the fugitive who lays his weary limbs at your door, and defend him as you would your household gods, for he, not they, has power to bring down blessings on your hearth. Correct your error that slavery has any constitutional guarantee that may not be released, and that ought not to be relinquished. Say to slavery, when it shows its bond and demands its pound of flesh, that if it draws one drop of blood its life shall pay the forfeit. Inculcate that the free States can exercise the rights of hospitality and humanity, that Congress knows no finality and can debate, that Congress can at least mediate with the slave-holding States, that at least future generations may be bought and given up to freedom. Do all this, and inculcate all this, in the spirit of moderation and benevolence, and not of retaliation and fanaticism, and you will ultimately bring the parties of this country into a common condemnation and even the slave-holding States themselves into a renunciation of slavery, which is not less necessary for them than for the common security and welfare. Whenever the public mind shall be prepared, and the public conscience shall demand the abolition of slavery the way to do it will open before us, and then mankind will be surprised at the ease with which the greatest of social and political evils can be removed.

Secretary Of The Society

At the same time I really should feel at a loss what to send, but as I am on the point of sending off a letter to the authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin, I venture to submit a copy of it to those who I feel sure must be fond of such a countrywoman. Your very faithful Servant,

I have allowed some time to elapse before I thanked you for the great honor and kindness you did me in sending to me, from yourself, a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. I thought it due to the sub- ject of which I perceived that it treated, not to send a mere acknowledgment, as I confess from a motive of policy I am apt to do, upon the first arrival of the book. I therefore determined to read, before I wrote.

Having thus read, it is not in the stiff and conventional form of compliment, still less in the technical language of criticism, that I am about to speak of your work. I return my deep and solemn thanks to Almighty God, who has led and enabled you to "WTite such a book.

I do feel, indeed, the most thorough assurance that in His good providence such a book cannot have been written in vain. I have long felt that slavery is by far the topping question of the world and age we live in, involving all that is most thrilling in heroism, and most touching in distress, - in short, the real epic of the universe. The self-interest of the parties most nearly concerned on the one hand, the apathy and ignorance of unconcerned observers on the other, have left these august pretensions to drop very much out of sight, and hence my rejoicing that a wTiter has appeared who will be read, and must be felt, and that happen what may to the transactions of slavery, they will no longer be suppressed, " carent quia vate

I trust that what I have just said was not required to show the entire sympathy I entertain with respect to the main truth and leading scope of your high argument, but we live in a world only too apt to regard the accessories and accidents of a subject above its real and vital essence ; no one can know so well as you how much the external appearance of the negro detracts from the romance and sentimentality which undoubtedly might attach to his position and his wTongs, and on this account it does seem to me proportionately important that you should have brought to your portraiture great grace of style, great power of language, a play of humor which relieves and brightens even the dark depth of the back-ground which you were called upon to reveal, a force of pathos which, to give it the highest praise, does not lay behind even all the dread reality, and, above all, a variety, a discrimination, and a truth in the delineation of character, which even to my own scanty and limited experience of the society you describe accredits itself instantaneously and irresistibly. Seldom, indeed, could I more forcibly apply the line of a very favorite poet, -

I have been told that in an English periodical, the quality of genius has been denied to your book. The motives which must have guided its composition will probably have made you supremely indifferent to mere criticism, especially to any which argues so much obfuscation both of head and heart. Your work has genius of the highest order, and it is the lowest of its merits.

There is one point wiiich, in face of all that your book has aimed at and achieved, I think of extremely slight importance, but which I will nevertheless just mention, if only to show that I have not been bribed into this fervor of admiration. I think, then, that whenever you speak of England and her institutions, it is in a tone which fails to do them fair justice. I do not know what distinct charges you think could be established against our aristocracy and capitalists, but you generally convey the impression that the same oppressions in degi'ee, though not in kind, might be brought home to them which are now laid to th^ charge of Southern slave-holders. Exposed to the same ordeal, they might very probably not stand the test better. All I contend for is, that the circumstances in which they are placed, and

\ the institutions by which they are surrounded, make the parallel wholly inapplicable. I cannot but suspect that your view has been in many respects derived from composers of fiction and others among ourselves who, writing with distinguished ability, have been more successful in delineating and dissecting the morbid features of our modern society, than in detecting the principle which is at fault, or suggesting the appropriate remedy. My own belief is, liable, if you please, to national bias, that our capitalists are very much the same sort of persons as your own in the to our aristocracy, I should really be tempted to say that, tried by their conduct on the question of Free Trade, they do not sustain an unfavorable comparison with your uppermost classes. Allow me to add, that when in one place you refer to those who have already emancipated their slaves, I think a case more directly in point than the proceedings of the Hungarian nobles might have been selected : such, at least,. I feel sure would have been the case, if the passages in question had been written by one who certainly was keenly alive to the faults of England, but who did justice to her good qualities and deeds with a heartiness exceeding that of most of her own sons, - - your great and good Dr. Channing.

I need not repeat how irrelevant, after all, I feel what I have said upon this head to be to the main issues involved in your work ; there is little doubt, too, that as a nation we have our special failings, and one of them probably is that we care too little about what other nations think of them.

Nor can I wish my countrymen ever to forget that their own past history should prevent them from being forward in casting accusations on their transatlantic brethren on the subject of slavery. With great ignorance of its actual miseries and horrors, there is also among us great ignorance of the fearful perplexities and difficulties with which its solution could not fail to be attended. I feel, however, that there is a considerable difference between reluctant acquiescence in what you in- herit from the past, and voluntary fresh enlargements and reinforcements of the system. For instance, I should not say that the mode in which such an enactment as the Fugitive Slave Law has been considered in this country has at all erred upon the side of overmuch indignation.

I need not detain you longer: I began my letter with returning thanks to Almighty God for the appearance of your work, and I offer my humble and ardent prayer to the same Supreme Source that it may have a marked agency in hastening the great consummation, which I should feel it a practical atheism not to believe must be among the unfulfilled purposes of the Divine power and love.

Momma Charlotte

" the slaves are, in reality, better off than we are, if they had sense enough to know it. They are taken care of - (they must be, you know, because it is the master's interest to keep them in good condition, and a man will always do what is for his interest). They get rid of all responsibility, - which is what we are groaning under ; and if they were only let alone, they would be happy enough, - happier than their masters, I dare say."

" Interested ! I would have every one of them sent beyond the Rocky Mountains, if I could, - or into ' kingdom come,' for that matter. They are the curse of the country ; but as long as they are property^ I would shoot any man that put bad ideas in their heads or that interfered with my

" Well, - I will take up your time with nothing but actual facts, for the truth of which I will be answerable. In a Western tour, not many years since, I saw one day a young lady, fair as a lily, and with a sweet expression of countenance, walking in the street with a little black girl whom she held by the hand. The little girl was about six years old, neatly dressed and very clean ; and on her neck she had a little gauze shawl that somebody had given her, the border of which was composed of the figure of the American Eagle many times repeated, each impression accompanied by the word ' Liberty,' woven into the fabric.

" This curious decoration, together with the wistful look of the child's face, and the benevolent air of the young lady, with whom I was slightly acquainted, led me to ask some questions, which were answered with an air in which modesty and sensibility were blended. I learned that the young lady had undertaken the trying task of accompanying the little girl through the place - which

Autographs For Freedom

" ' O, but Momma Charlotte promised her mistress that she would not leave her, nor let Violet do so, if she might bring the child with her, and beg money to buy her. She says she does not care for freedom for herself.'

" I could not do less than go with the good girl for awhile, to assist a little in her labor of love, which in the end, and with a good deal of difficulty, was finally accomplished. It was not until after this that I became acquainted with Momma Charlotte, the mother of Violet, and learned a few of the particulars of a story which had made her ' not care for freedom.'

" Momma Charlotte was the mother of ten children, - six daughters and four sons. Her husband had been a free black, - a carpenter, able to keep a comfortable home for his family, hiring his wife of her master. At the time of the Southampton insurrection, this man was among the suspected, and, on suspicion, not proof, he was taken up, - tried, after the fashion of that time, and hung, with several others, - all between sunset and sunrise of :a single day.

" This was but the beginning of troubles. A sense of insecurity made the sale of slaves more vigorous than ever. Charlotte's children were sold, one by one - no two together - the boys for the sugar country, - the girls for - Hhe New Orleans market,' whence they were dispersed, she never knew where.

" ' O yes, - I mean all but Violet. She 's all I've got in the world, and I want to keep her. I begged Missus to let me keep jist one! and she said if I could get any body to buy her for me, I might have her, - for you know I could n't own her myself, 'cause I 'm a slave.'

" Such was Momma Charlotte's philosophy, but her face told through what sufferings such philosophy had been acquired. A fixed grief sat on her brow ; since the judicial murder of her husband she had never been known to laugh, - hardly to smile. Her eyes were habitually cast on the ground, and her voice seemed always on the brink of tears. She was what you call ' dissatisfied,'^ I think, Mr. S ."

" O, you have selected an extreme case ! those things very seldom happen." (Seldom!) " After all, you see the poor old thing knew what was right; she showed the right spirit, - " distance to whom it was necessary he should speak immediately ; so he darted oH', and I lost the benefit of his defence of the peculiarities of the peculiar institution.

To The Secretary Of The Society

In compliance with the request that I would send a few lines for insertion in " The Anti- Slavery Autograph," I may say that I cannot express too strongly my conviction that, if there be truth in Revelation, it is the duty of every Christian to promote, by all legitimate means, not only the universal and total, but the immediate abolition of any system under which man can hold property in his feUow man. Perhaps few of those who take this view of the subject are sufficiently careful to avoid, as far as possible, any participation in, or encouragment of slavery, by refusing to use the produce of the unrequited toil of the slave. Yet until we do this, I think we have little right to expect the Divine blessing upon our efforts to promote the abolition of slavery and of the slave trade.

Divinity In A Dilemma

An argument is derived from the Jewish Scriptures in favor of slave-holding, very plausible and ^T-eighty v^ith that large class of persons so poorly rgifted with hearts as to find it difficult to discriminate between the letter that killeth and the spirit vthat maketh alive. The Old Testament shows clearly enough, that slave-holding was tolerated among the Jews ; and it being assumed that the ; system of Jewish society, or, at all events, that the Mosaic code was framed after a Divine model, it is alleged to be at least supererogatory, if not actually impious, to denounce as inconsistent with Christianity that which God permitted to his chosen and selected people. Are we to pretend to be better and wiser than Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon ?

A recent application of this same argument can hardly fail to operate with many, as what the mathematicians call a reductio ad absurdum; a proof, that is, of the falsity of a proposition assumed, by exhibiting its operation in other cases.

of wives, now at length openly avowed by the heads and apostles of that new sect, is upheld and justified by this very same argument. It plainly appears from the Old Testament, that polygamy equally with slavery, was one of the social institutions of the Jews, recognized and sanctioned by their laws. And borrowing the tone, and indeed the very words of our pro-slavery theologians, - " Do you pretend," asks Orson Hyde, one of the Mormon apostles, addressing himself to those who question this new privilege of the saints, - " Do you pretend to set yourselves above the teaching of God, and the example of his chosen people ? "

Nor does the analogy between the two cases stop here. According to the pro-slavery biblical argument, slave-holding is only to be justified in Christian slave-holders, who, in holding slaves, have in view not only selfish benefit or advantage, but the good of the slaves, (who are not able to take care of themselves,) and the glory of God. According to the Mormon biblical argument, polygamy is to be allowed only to the saints ; and that, not for any sensual gratification, but only for the benefit of the women, (who, according to the Mormon doctrine, cannot get to heaven without some holy husband to introduce them,) and for the raising up of a righteous seed to God's glory.

Their favorite biblical argument, urged with such a'tone of triumph and self-satisfaction in all the southern presbyteries and consociations, and in some northern ones, being thus newly applied by the Mormons, our pro-slavery friends are placed in a somewhat delicate dilemma. For they must either abandon as invalid their dogma o^ slaveholding derived from Jewish practices, or, if they still hold on to the argument, and maintain its force, they must prepare to extend the right hand of fellowship to Brigham Young and his five and forty wives. It is, indeed, very natural, in fact inevitable, that slavery and polygamy, avowed or disavowed, should go together ; nor does any good reason appear why those who find justification for the one in the Jewish Scriptures should hesitate about accepting the other.

The Slave And Slaye-Ownek

" I WOULD rather be anything than a slave, - except a slave-owner!" said a wise and good man. The slave-owner inflicts wrongs, - the slave but suffers it. He has friends and champions by thousands. Some men live only to defend and save him. Many are willing to fight for him. Some even to die for him.

The most effective romance of our times has been written for slaves. The genius of more than one of our best poets has been consecrated to them. They divide the hearts and councils of our great nation. They are daily remembered in the prayers of the faithful. They are the most earnest topic of the christian world.

But the slave-owner! who weeps, who prays, who lives, who dies for him ! True, he is of the boasted Saxon race, or descended from the brilliant Gaul, or gifted Celt. He is enriched by the transmitted civilization of all ages. He has been nurtured by christian institutions. To him have been opened the fountains of Divine truth. But

If he be a rural landlord, he looks around upon his ancestral possessions, and sees the curse of slave-ownership upon them, - he knows the time must come Avhen " the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall." To him the onward tendencies of the age are reversed. His movement is steadily backward.

To the slave are held out the rewards of fortitude, of long suffering, of meekness, of patience in tribulation. What and where are the promises to the slave-owner ?

Thousands among them are in a false position. They are the involuntary maintainers of wrong, and transmitters of evil. Hundreds among them have scrupulous consciences and tender feelings. They use power gently. They feed their servants bountifully. They nurse the sick kindly, - and devote weary days to their instruction. But alas ! they live under the laws of slave-owners. They are forbidden to teach the slave to read, write, or cipher, to give them the means of independent progress and increasing light. Their teaching is as bootless as the labor of Sysyphus ! most wearisome and disheartening.

The great eras of domestic life, bright to thethoughtless slave, are dark with forecasting shadows to the slave-ownep. The mother cannot for- get her sorrows, because a man-child is born. If she dare contemplate his future, she sees that the activities of his nature must be repressed, his faculties but half developed, his passions stimulated by irresponsible power, inflamed by temptation, and solicited by convenient opportunity. She knows that his path in life must be more and more entangled as he goes onward, - darker and darker with the ever-deepening misery of this cruel institution.

Is it a 'merr«/ marriage-bell' that rings in the ear of a slave-owning mother for the bridal of her daughter ? Does not her soul recoil from the possible (probable ?) evils before her child ; to be placed, perchance, on an isolated plantation, environed by natural enemies to ; see, it may be, the brothers and sisters of her own children follow their slave-mother to the field, or severed from her to be sold at the slave-market ?

Compared with these miseries of the slave-owner, what are the toils and stripes of the slave ? what his labor without stimulus or requital ? what his degradation to a chattel ? what the deprivation of security to the ties gf kindred, and the annulling of that relation which is their source and chiefest blessing ?

The slave looks forward with ever-growing hope to the struggle that must come. He joyfully " smells the battle afar off*.'' The slave-owner folds his arms, and shuts %his eyes in paralyzing

The Secretary Of The Society

I readily comply with your desire. England taught her descendants in America to injure their African brethren. Every Englishman should aid the American to get rid of this cleaving wrong and deep injury to his race and nation. I am ever yours,

^ " Take counsel, execute judgment ; make" thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day ; hide the outcasts ; bewray not him that wandereth. Let my outcasts dwell with thee, Moab ; be thou a covert to them, from the face of the spoiler." Isaiah 16: 3,4.

^ '^ Is it not that thou deal thy bread to the hungry, and that -thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him ? and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? " " If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking of vanity," etc. Isa. 58 : 6-9.

t " Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the prophets/' - Jesus Christ. Matt. 7 : 12.

% " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee ; even among you in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best ; thou shalt not oppress him." Deut. 23: 15, 16.

^ " Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness ; the people in whose heart is my law : fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool ; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation." Isaiah 51 : 7, 8.

X " Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man ? =* ^ =^ And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, =H= # # and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy 1 And where is the fury of the oppressor ?" Isaiah 51 : 12, 13, 14.

Autographs For Freedom Autographs For Freedom, 33

About seventy years ago, three millions of people in America thought themselves wronged by the powers ordained of God. They resolved not to endure the wrong. They published to the world a statement of grievances which justified resistance to the powers ordained of God, and deliberately revolted against the king, though explicitly commanded by God to " honor the king." In the process of revolt, about one hundred thousand men, Europeans and Americans, - were slaughtered in battle, or slowly butchered by the sickness, imprisonments, and hardships incident to a state of war.

It was distinctly maintained in 1776, that men may rightfully fight for liberty, and resist the powers ordained of God, if those powers destroyed liberty. Christian men, ministers in their pulpits strenuously argued that it was men's duty to fight for liberty, and to kill those who opposed them. Prayer was offered to God for success in this process of resistance and blood ; and good men implored and obtained help from other nations, to complete the work of resistance to oppression, and death to the oppressors.

I do not say that these positions were right, or that the men of 1776 acted right. But I do say, that if they were right, we are necessarily led to some startling conclusions. For there are now three millions of people of America grievously wronged by the government they live under. If it was right in 1776 to resist, fight, and kill, to secure liberty, - it is right to do the same in 1852. If three millions of whites might rightfully resist the powers ordained of God, then three millions of blacks may rightfully do the same. If France was justified in aiding our band of revolutionists to fight for liberty, then a foreign nation may lawfully aid men now to vindicate their rights. If as the men of 1776 declared, "when a long train of abuses evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism^ it is their right, it is their duty,^ to throw off such government," - then it is the duty of three millions of men in 1852, to throw off the government which reduces them to the frightful and absolute despotism of chattel slavery.

But what were the oppressions, which, in 1776, justified revolt, battle, and one hundred thousand deaths ? They are stated in the " Declaration of Independence," are familiar to all, and will there- fore only be abridged here. The powers ordained of God over the men of 1776, - " restrained their trade," - " refused assent to laws enacted by the local legislature," - " kept soldiers to overawe them," - " did not punish soldiers for killing a few colonists," - -''imposed taxes without their consent," - " in some cases, did not allow them trial by jury," - " abolished good laws," - ''made war on them, in case of disobedience."

These were the wrongs they complained of. But nearly all their rights were untouched. They had schools and colleges, and could educate their children ; they could become intelligent and learned themselves ; they could acquire property, and large numbers of them had become rich; they could emigrate without hindrance to any other country, when weary of the oppressions of their own; they could elect their own town and state officers ; they could keep swords, muskets, powder and ball in their own houses ; they could not be lashed and sold like brutes ; they were never compelled to work without wages ; they could appeal to courts of justice for protection.

We can acquire no property, and are kept in utter and. perpetual pauperism, dependent on the mere caprice or selfishness of other men for subsistence.

If we attempt peaceably to emigrate from this land of oppression, we are hunted by bull-dogs, or shot down like beasts, - dragged back to perpetual slavery without trial by jury.

We are exposed to the most degi'ading and revolting punishments, without judge or trial, at the passion, caprice, or cruelty of the basest overseers.

Many thousands of our people are annually collected by slave-traders, and sold to distant States ; by which means families are broken up, and the most frightful debasement, anguish, and outrage is inflicted on us.

We have no access to courts of justice, no voice in the election of rulers, no agency in making the laws, - not even the miserable remnant of liberty, in choosing the despot who may have absolute power over us.

We are hopelessly consigned to that condition most revolting and loathsome to one in whom the least vestige of manly or womanly feeling is left, - that of absolute slavery.

Great numbers of our people, in, addition to all these enormities, endure unutterable bodily sufferings, from the cruelty and torturing punishments inflicted on us.

I do not assert that three millions of people, suffering such intolerable wrongs and outrages, ought to throttle their oppressors, and kill fifty thousand of them. I only say, that if it was right to do so in 1776, it is also right to do the same in 1852. If the light oppressions which the men of the last century endured justified war and bloodshed, then oppressions ten thousand times worse^, would surely justify revolt and blood. If the colonists might rightfully refuse to " remain in the* calling wherein they were called," as subjects of the English government, then slaves may rightfully refuse to continue in the calling wherein they were called, ij^ three millions of men might lawfully disregard the text, " honor the king," onthe ground that the king oppressed them ; then threemillions of men may lawfully disregard the text, "servants, obey your masters," on the ground that those masters grievously oppress them. If theprospect of success justified the war of 1776, thea as soon as three millions of slaves feel able and determined to vindicate their rights, they may justly demand them at the point of the sword ; and any black Washington who shall lead his countrymen to victory and liberty, even through carnage, will merit our veneration. If " liberty or death " was a noble and Christian war-cry in 1776 for the oppressed, then it would be noble and Christianlike for the oppressed men of 1852 practically to adopt the same.

If these inferences appear startling and even horrible, why do they so appear? Is there any reason except that inveterate prejudice, which applies very different principles to the colored man and to the white man ? If three millions of white men were in slavery in Algiers now, should we not urge them, as soon as there was hope of success, to imitate the men of 1776, rise and fight for liberty ? Therefore, until we are prepared to condemn our ancestors as guilty rebels, and abhor their insurrection as a wicked resistance to the ordinance of God, can we blame any class of people for successful revolt against an oppressive government ?

Let this further question be pondered. Who were to blame for the destruction of one hundred thousand lives in the war of 1776 ? The oppressors, or the oppressed ? The men who fought for liberty, or the men who would not let them have it without fighting ? Who then would be responsible for the death of one hundred thousand men, if the op-

If the reader is shocked by such inquiries and inferences, and as directly and intentionally designed to encourage servile insurrection and civil war, he may be assured that my aim is entirely different. It is my wish, to secure timely precautions against danger. For we are to remember, that our slave and colored population is advancing with the same gigantic rate of increase characteristic of our country. In twenty-five years, we shall have six millions of slaves ; in fifty years, twelve millions ; in seventy-five years, twenty-four millions. Can any one dream of the possibility of retaining twenty-four millions, or twelve millions, of human beings in slavery ? Long before that number is reached, will not vast multitudes of them learn the simple lessons of liberty and right, which our books, orations, and politicians inculcate day by day ? Will there not arise among them men of courage, genius, enthusiasm, who will, at all hazards, lead them on to that glorious liberty which we have taught them is cheaply purchased at any peril, or war, or bloodshed? When that day comes, as sure it must, will there not be horrors such as civil war has never yet produced ? Is it not wise, then, to begin measures for averting so fearful a catastrophe ? Is it not madness to slumber over such a frightful future ? Should not the talent and energies of the country be directed to the momentous inquiry, How can slavery now be

'peacefully and rightfully removed ? Does not every attempt to hush agitation, and insist on the finality of anti-slavery measures, make more sure »the awful fact that slavery is to work out its own temancipation in fighting and blood ?

A Century In A Dungeon

But Hope sat with him once, and cheered his day; And raised his limbs, and kept his lamp alight ; Scared by his groans, at length she fled away ;

True Reform

I HAVE received your appeal, my friends, and am not sorry to find myself remembered by you. Every moment of the ages is pregnant with the fate of humanity, but we are inclined to imagine that in which we live to have a peculiar significance. At this hour, it seems to us as if the great balance of justice swayed to and fro, in most disheartening uncertainty ; but this moment, like all others, lies in the hollow of God's hand, and his infinite love will not fail to justify to men and angels its terrible discipline.

I have departed on this occasion from the plan of action once laid down to myself. I have not presented you in these pages with the revolting facts of slavery ; for to deal with the subject at this moment in a fitting manner, demands a prudence and tact not likely to be possessed by one absent from the scene of action, and ignorant of the passing moment. I wish to convey to you the assurance of my deep sympathy in all Christ-like opposition to sin ; my deep sorrow for every loss of manly self-control, and failure of faith in God,

reformers ; my conviction that the Constitution of the United States, in so far as it is not in harmony with the law of God, can be no sure foundation for the law of man ; that until it gives place to a higher ground of union, or until the nation consent to give it a higher interpretation, it will depress the national industry, corrupt the national morals, and palsy the national strength. It is my firm faith, that man owes his first allegiance to God, and that it is the duty of every citizen who disobeys the law of a land, to bear its penalties with a patience and firmness which shall show him ; adequate to the hour, and neither unwilling nor unfit to complete the sacrifice he has begun. Above rail, O my friends ! I pray that God may fill the hearts of the reformers in this cause, with the deepest devotion to His absolute truth, the truest perception of the humility of Christ ; that He may show them how, as its exigencies press, they must not only be men full of anti-slavery zeal, but filled with Divine prudence, sincere desirers of that peace which is founded on purity, - possessors of that temperance which is its own best pledge. In the consciousness of the martyrdom of the affections, which his position involves, the reformer feels oftentimes secure of his eternal compensation. But I have wondered, of late, whether martyrdom may not be as dangerous to his spiritual life as worldly renown, or pecuniary prosperity.

dence ; and sacrificing my last copper on the altar of a great truth, I may still refuse to offer there my personal vanity, my wilful self-esteem, or my bitterness of temper.

Whose soul disdains to cringe or cower Beneath a haughty tyrant's nod, And, supplicating, kiss the rod That, wielded by oppression's might, Smites to the earth his dearest right, - The right to speak, and think, and feel,

Responsible to none but God, - Is threatened with the dungeon's gloom, The felon's cell, the traitor's doom, And treacherous politicians league

The bound and lacerated slave ; While numerous tribes spread near and far, Fierce, devastating, barbarous war. Earth's fairest scenes in ruin laid, To furnish victims for that trade, Which breeds on earth such deeds of shame, As fiends might blush to hear or name. I see where Danube's waters roll.

In battle for the land he loved, - A perjured tyrant's legions tread The ground where Freedom's heroes bled, And still the voice of those who feel Their country's wrongs, with Austrian steel. I see the " Rugged Russian Bear," Lead forth his slavish hordes, to war Upon the right of every State Its own affairs to regulate ; To help each despot bind the chain Upon the people's rights again. And crush beneath his ponderous paw All constitutions, rights, and law. I see in France, - O burning shame ! -

The shadow of a mighty name, Wielding the power her patriot bands Had boldly wrenched from kingly hands, With more despotic pride of sway Than ever monarch dared display. The Fisher, too, whose world-wide nets

Nor fear the oppressor's iron hand, - Worse scenes of rapine, lust, and shame, Than e'er disgraced the Russian name. Worse than the Austrian ever saw, Are sanctioned here as righteous law.

Unsympathizing cruelty, And call that good, which, right or wrong. Will tend to make his order strong : He here might learn from those who stand

And sanction of the Deity, To help sustain the monstrous wrong. And crush the weak beneath the strong. Lord, thou hast said the tyrant's ear

And glorying in her mighty power, - Saw blasting fire, and blighting hail, Sweep o'er her rich and fertile vale. And heard on every rising gale Ascend the bitter mourning wail ; And blighted herd, and blasted plain, Through all the land the first-born slain, Her priests and magi made to cower In witness of a higher power, And darkness like a sable pall

Autographs For Freedom, 53

To grovel ever in the dust. Shut out by Christian power and might From every ray of Christian light. How long, O Lord ! shall such vile deeds

In responding to thy welcome communication, I may say that I rejoice in the cause of the interruption of our correspondence, so far as it concerns thyself ; thy time and talents being so increasingly occupied, in union with other of humanity's advocates, in assisting to overturn the monster iniquity of our age, that crowning crime of Christendom, - negro slavery I

Go on in this good work! and may God's blessing abundantly attend, till the eternal overthrow be effected of a system so fraught with every evil ; so abhorrent to the rights of nature, and so contrary to the spirit of the Gospel ; - till the galling chain be broken off the necks of America's three million slaves ; till its victims be raised from the profoundest depths of ignorance and woe, to which they are now degraded.

can be tolerated for a single hour ! Ought not every one who has a spark of humanity, to say nothing of Christianity, in his bosom, - ought not all the sound part of every community in which slavery exists to rise up en masse ^ and declare that this abomination shall exist no longer ?

Who gave to any man the right to enslave his fellow man ? Can any enactment of human legislators so far sanction robbery, as lawfully to make one man the property of another ? Has God poured the tide of life through the African's breast, and animated it with a portion of his own Divine spirit, and at the same time deprived him of all natural ^affections, that he alone is to be struck off the list of rational beings, and placed on a level with the brute ? Is his flesh marble, and his sinews iron, or his immortal spirit of a class condemned, without hope, to penal suffering, that he is called upon to endure incessant toil, and to be subjected to degradation, bodily and mental, such as no other portion of the family of Adam have ever been destined to endure, without the vengeance of Heaven being signally displayed upon the oppressors ? Does the African mother feel less love to her offspring than the white woman ? or the African husband regard with less tenderness the wife of his bosom ? Is his heart dead to the ties of kindred, - his nature so brutalized, that the sacred associations of home and country .awaken no emotions in his breast ?

negro does feel, keenly feel, the wrongs inflicted upon him by his unrighteous enslavers, and that his mind, barren as it has been rendered by hard usage, and desolated with misery, is not unwatered by the pure and gentle streams of natural affection. Yet the lordly oppressors remain unmoved by the sad condition of the negro, contemplate with indiffisrence his bodily and mental sufferings, and still dare to postpone to an indefinite period the termination of his oppression and of their own guilt.

But thanks be to God ! there is some counteracting influence to this feeling, and that it is on the advance. The night has been long and dark, - already the horizon brightens ; the day of freedom dawns.

Go on, then, my friend ; I say, go on ! in the good cause thou hast espoused. Labor, and faint not. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." My kind regards to Frederick Douglass ; may he, and all others also, be strengthened and encouraged to labor in the great work of human freedom ; that so, by gradual increase, like the mighty surge, they may become strong enough to overpower and drown the oppressor, and be enabled to devise and execute measures of mercy and justice, which may avert the judgments of the Almighty from their guilty land. For surely some signal display of Divine displeasure must await America, unless she repent, and undo the heavy burdens of her three million slaves.

Are not the signs of the times calculated to remind us forcibly of this language of Isaiah, " Behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity ; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain." Do we not hear already

Bt The Work-Shop Bard

Though woman, fleeing from the cruel grip Of foul oppression, scarred and stained with blood. Where from the severed veins the driver's whip

Though helpless childhood ask - O pitying Heaven ! - The merest crumb which falls upon the floor, Tho' faint and famished, bread must not be given,

How long - thy people cry - O Lord, how long! Shall not thine arm " shake down the bolted fire!" Can deeds like these of God-defying wrongs,

About a year ago, the newspapers announced the death of Mr. John Murray, for many years the secretary of the Glasgow Emancipation Society, and I would do violence to truth and humanity whose servant and soldier he was, should I neglect to pen a few recollections of that most earnest and efficient man.

He was related to the ancient and honorable family of the Oswalds of Sheildhall, an*d received that excellent educational and religious training which is given to the children of the middle and higher classes in Scotland. At the age of twentytwo or three, in consequence of an attack of pulmonary hemorrhage, he sailed for the West Indies and found employment at his trade, house-building, in St. Kitts. Very soon, however, he found other matters to engage, and almost engross his attention and labors ; in conjunction with an uncle of George Stephen of London, and a Dr. Hamilton, resident in St. Kitts, he did manly and successful fight in behalf of the wronged and bleeding slave.

of the workings of slavery, he returned to Glasgow, poor in pocket, but rich in abolitionism. Soon after his return, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna , a lady whose perfect harmony in sentiment, softened by feminine delicacy, made a happy anti-slavery home for the zealous and ardent abolitionism of John Murray. It was a union of hearts, attached in early youth, and which had remained "leal" during a 4ong separation.

Shortly after marriage, he commenced business as a spirit-dealer^ then and now a most reputable calling in the opinion of the good citizens of Glasgow. Temperate himself, his calling gradually became unpleasant to him. At first he refused to sell spirits to any person partly inebriated ; then he reasoned himself into a total abandonment of the death-dealing traffic. With no other business prospect before him, prevented by his long difficulty from working at his trade, with a young wife and child dependent on him, he suddenly locked up his spirit-cellar and never more sold rum !

In 1828 or 1829, through the influence of his kinsman, James Oswald, Esq., of Sheildhall, Mr. Murray was appointed surveyor on a part of the Forth and Clyde canal, an office requiring much labor for little pay. His prospects of promotion depended on Mr. Oswald and other members of the Kirk of Scotland. Mr. Murray was a full member of the Tron Church, Glasgow, when, according to law, a minister was appointed there regardless of the choice, and contrary to the wishes of the great majority of its members. In consequence of this appointment, and again unmindful of personal advancement, John Murray shook the dust from his sandals and quit at once and forever the Tron Church and the Kirk of Scotland.

About the same time the Glasgow Emancipation Society was formed or re-organized, on the doctrine of immediate emancipation so splendidly announced by a secession minister of Edinburgh. The secretaries of this association were John Murray the surveyor, and William Smea<|, of the Gallowgate, grocer; the last a Friend. These two were the head and front, the thinking and the locomotive power of this well known association which did notable fight, if not the principal labor, in effecting emancipation in the British West Indies, and in assaulting American slavery.

And, twenty odd years ago, it was no trifling matter to do anti-slavery work in Glasgow, the very names of whose stateliest streets proclaimed that they were built by money wrung out of the blood and sweat of the negroes of Jamaica, St. Vincents, etc. The whole of the retired wealth, nearly all the active business influence, the weight of the Established Church, the rank and fashion of Glasgow, and though last not least, the keen wit of the poet Motherwell,* and the great statistical learning and industry of M' Queen were ar- rayed on the side of the slave-holder. Sugar and cotton and rum were lords of the ascendant ! Yet the poor surveyor and the humble grocer fought on ; nor did they fight alone ; the silvery voice and keen acumen of Ralph Wardlaw, the earnest and powerful Hugh Heugh, the inexorable logic and burning sarcasm of swarthy Wully Anderson, and the princely munificence of James Johnston, combined to awaken the people to the enormity of slavery. And the Voluntary Church movement, and the fight for the Reform Bill aroused a varied eloquence in the orators who plead for, and a kindling enthusiasm in the people who were struggling on the liberal side of all these questions ; for the people, battling for their own rights, had heart room to hear the prayer for the rights of others more deeply oppressed. Thus ever will liberty be expansive and expanding in the direction of human brotherhood.

Then Knibb came along with his fiery eloquence, which swept over and warmed the hearts of the people with indignation at the dishonor done religion in the martyrdom of the missionary Smith ; and then the grand scene in the British emancipation drama, the overthrow of Bostwick by George Thompson, and the monster petitions and the reluctant assent of the ministry and the passage of the bill.

Those were stirring times in Glasgow, and it did one's heart good to see John Murray in their midst. The arrangements for nearly all those 6* movements originated with, and were carried out by him; he never made a speech of one minute long, yet he most effectively arranged all the speaking, drew up all the resolutions and reports and addresses; and most of the movements in England, the pressure upon the ministry, and the advocacy in Parliament were the result of his wide and laborious correspondence. He used more than one ream of paper for manuscripts upon the great cause which he seemed born to carry out successfully. In addition to his other correspondence, nearly every issue of two of the Glasgow tri-weekly papers contained able articles from his pen in reply to the elaborate defence of slavery carried on in the Glasgow Courier by Mr. M' Queen. And yet this man, doing this mighty work, was so entirely unobtrusive, so quiet in his^abors, that few beyond the committee knew him other than the silent secretary of the Glasgow Emancipation Society. And I shall not soon forget the perfect consternation wjlh which he heard a vote of thanks tendered him by resolution at an annual meeting of the society.

In 1835 or 1836, Mr. Murray was promoted to the office of collector at Bowling Bay, for the company he had so long and faithfully served. And many an anti-slavery wayfarer can testify to the warm welcome and genial hospitality of the snug little stone building so beautifully packed on the Clyde entrance of the Forth and Clyde canal. A charming family, consisting of a devoted wife, two most promising boys, and a retiring, sweet tempered girl, made happy the declining years of this great friend of the slave, and earnest pioneer in many reforms. Freedom for Ireland, the Peace Question, Radical Reform, a Free Church, and Total Abstinence, were questions to all of which Mr. Murray devoted his pen and his purse. His soul received and advocated whatever looked towards human progress.

In person, Mr. Murray was tall and gaunt, and would strongly remind one of Henry Clay. About a mile from Bowling Bay, within the enclosure that surrounds the Relief Church, in a sweet quiet spot, the green turf now covers what remains of the once active frame of John Murray; and as, with moistened cheek, I fling this pebble upon his cairn, I cannot help thinking how much more has been done for the cause of human progress by this faithful servant to his own convictions of the truth, than by the nation-wept sage of Ashland.

Power Of American Example

At the last anniversary of the American Home Missionary Society, Rev. John P. Gulliver made an eloquent address on the duty of bringing the American people under the full influence of Christian principle, in an argument drawn from the bearings of our national example on the people of other lands. Christianity^ he said, alone can make the nations free. We fully believe in this sentiment. In answer to the question, How is Christiaiiity to effect this result ? - Mr, Gulliver's answer was : America is to be the agent.

Other nations, he thought, might do much in working out this great result ; but the chief hopes of the friends of freedom, he suggested, are centered upon this country. The world needs an example ; and he pointed to what the example of this nation has already done, imperfect as it is. " It is doing, at this moment, more to change the political condition of man than all the armies and navies, - than all the diplomacy and king-craft of the world." If it be so, if, as the speaker declared, "the battle of the world's freedom is to be fought on our own soil," it w^ould be interesting to look at the obstacles in the way. The United States must present a very different example from that exhibited the last twenty-five years, and now exhibited, before this country will be the agent of Christianity in evangelizing the world. Think of three millions of our countrymen in chains ! Think of the large numbers held by ministers of the gospel and members of churches ! Think of the countenance given to slave-holders by our ecclesiastical assemblies, by Northern preachers, by Christian lawyers, merchants, and mechanics ! Think of the platforms, adopted by the two leading political parties of the country, composed partly of religious men ! Think of the dumbness of those that minister at the altar, in view of the great national iniquity, and then consider the effects of such an example upon other nations. Christian and Heathen !

Dr. Hawes is stated to have said at the last annual meeting of the A. B. C. F. M., that Dr. John H. Rice said, in his hearing, more than twenty years ago : " I do not believe the Lord will suffer the existing type or character of the Christian world to be impressed on the heathen." We also heard the remark, and believe that Dr. Rice, in alluding to the state of religion in this country, said, " it was so far short of what Christianity required, that sanguine as many were that the United States was speedily to be the agent of the world's conversion, he did not believe, for one, that God would suffer the Christianity of this country, as it then was, to be impressed upon the heathen world." If the character of our religion was thus twenty years ago, what is it now ? As a religious people we have been boastful. We have acted as if we thought God could not convert the world without the instrumentality of this country. It is far more probable that the converted heathen will send missionaries to the United States to teach us the first rudiments of Christianity, than that this country, at the present low ebb of religion, will be the agent of converting heathen nations to God.

Dr. Hawes believed "that if the piety of the church were corrected and raised to the standard of Paul, God would soon give to the Son the heathen for his inheritance." No doubt of it. Such piety would do away with chattel slavery, with caste, with slavery platforms, with ungodly rulers, with Indian oppression, with divorcing Christianity from the ballot-box, with heathenism at home. Let us pray for such piety ; and that hundreds of such men as Rice and Hawes may lift up their voices like a trumpet, and put forth corresponding action, until the nation shall be regenerated and become fit to enlighten, and, through the grace of God, save a dying world.

In one of the leading Congregational papers, a writer, W. C. J., has commenced a series of communications under the above heading. It is well to .discuss the subject. The writer says, " There are, it is true, many among our three millions of slaves who are acquainted with the rudiments of religious truth, and are leading lives of sincere piety." Dr. Nelson, a native of a slave State, stated, as the result of experience for many years, that he had never known more than three or four slaves who he had reason to believe were truly and intelligently pious. The Synod of South Carolina and Georgia published to the world, some years since, that the great mass of slaves were heathen, as much so as the heathen of any portion of the globe. What authority W. C. J. has for saying there are, among the tliree millions of American slaves, "many" who are "leading lives of sincere piety," I do not know. It is probably the mere conjecture of an ardent mind. He qualifies the expression by asking, " What is the type of the religion that too generally appears among the slaves ? " And then replies to his own question, " It is sickly and weak, like a plant growing in a cellar, or a cave ; a com-

A sagacious observer has remarked, that there never can be, in our day, intelligent piety where men are not possessed of property, especially where they are mere serfs or slaves. How many American slaves have the piety of " Uncle Tom," we are unable to say. Probably very few. And it must fill the heart of every one who loves the souls of men, with anguish to contemplate the spiritual destitution of the slaves in this country ; kept in bondage by the religious and political apathy or acts of professing Christians, of different denominations, in their individual or associated capacity. But to the question : Is the g-ospel a remedy for slavery? We answer, unhesitatingly, not such a gospel as is preached to them ; for while it does very little to enlighten either slave or master, it enjoins upon the former passive obedience, and inculcates upon the latter the right and duty of holding their fellow men in bondage. Nor have we much hesitation in avowing it as our belief, that the gospel, as generally preached in the free States, is quite inadequate to put an end to slavery. It does not reach the conscience of the tens of thousands who are, in various ways, connected with slave-holding by relationship, business correspondence, or political or ecclesiastical ties. As proof of this, we need only contemplate the action of the Northern divisions of the political and religious national parties. Slavery is countenanced, strength- ened, increased, extended by their connivance or direct agency. The truth is, Christianity, as promulgated by the great mass of the preachers and professors at this day even in the free States, is not a remedy for slavery. It is a lamentable truth, one that might justly occasion in the heart of every true Christian the lamentation of the prophet Jeremiah : " Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep, day and night, for the slain of the daughters of my people!" And it is in view of this truth, that the friends of a pure and full gospel have great encouragement to persevere in their work of faith and love. The missionaries connected with the American Missionary Association, at home and abroad, inculcate, fearlessly and persistently, a gospel of freedom, and make no more apology or allowance for slave-holding than for any other sin or crime. Such missionaries should be sustained, their numbers augmented, and prayer ascend for them continually.

Letter To The President Of The Society

Your request to transmit my name, with a short article, for insertion in your contemplated publication, is before me. I have neither time nor words in which to express my unalterable abhorrence of slavery, with all the odious apologies and blasphemous claims of Divine sanction for it, that have been attempted. I regard all attempts, by legislation or other^vise, to give the abominable system '' aid and comfort " as involving treason against the government of God, and as insulting the consciences and common sense of men.

Autgoraphs For Freedom The Slave'S Prayer

The first effort of my early life in narrative writing, was in behalf of those who, in even darker days than these, were preeminently those who, on earth, " had no helper."

From this tale is selected these few lines - a song introduced into the story - not because it has any poetic merit, but because to me and perhaps to others, it seems interesting from the above circumstance.

The Struggle

Ours is a noble cause ; nobler even than that of our fathers, inasmuch as it is more exalted to struggle for the freedom of others^ than for our own. The love of right, which is the animating impulse of our movement, is higher even than the love of freedom. But right, freedom, and humanity, all concur in demanding the abolition of slavery.

Work And Wait

I have found no moment till the present that I ^could devote to a compliance with your request, :and I am now probably too late. However, let me hastily proffer a few suggestions to opponents eof slavery, which I trust may not be found unprofit- ;able. I would say, then :

:save as you may be constrained to oppose certain eddies of that movement. Had Wilberforce, Clarkson, and their associate pioneers in the cause of British abolition, seen fit to cut themselves loose from all preexisting sects and parties, and for a special anti-slavery church and party, I think the triumph of their cause would have been still unattained.

2. Do not refuse to do a little good because you would much prefer to do a greater which is now unattainable. The earth revolves in her vast orbit igradually ; and he who has done whatever good he can, need not reproach himself for his inability to

3. Be foremost in every good work that the community aromid you icill appreciate, - not because they will appreciate it, but because their appreciation and sympathy will enable you to do good in other spheres, and do it more effectually.

4. Be preeminent in your consideration and regard for the rights and wTongs of labor in your own circle, even the rudest and humblest. An abolitionist who hires his linen made up at the lowest market rate, and pays his wash-woman in proportion, will do little good to the anti-slavery or any other philanthrophic cause. The man of liberal culture and generous heart who unostentatiously tries to elevate the most depressed to his own level, is doing a good work against slavery, however unconsciously.

5. Have faith, with a divine patience ; man is privileged to labor for a good cause, but the glory of its success must redound to his Maker. Next to a great defeat, the most fatal event for slavery would be a great triumph. Doubtless, the bolts are now forging in some celestial armory destined to strike the shackles from the limbs of the bondman, and cleanse the land from the foulest and blackest iniquity ever organized and legalized in the christian world. The shout of deliverance may come when it is least expected, - nay, the very means employed to render its coming impossible, vnW probably secure and hasten it. For that and every other needed reform, let the humane and hopeful strive, not despairing in the densest mid- night, and realizing that the darkest hour is often that preceding the dawn. Let them, squandering no opportunity, and sacrificing no principle,

The Great Emancipation

Beautiful and happy will this world be, when slavery and every other form of oppression shall have ceased. But this change can be produced only by the religion of Jesus Christ. Reliance on any other power to overthrow slavery, or restore to order and happiness this sin-crazed and sinruined world, will be vain.

Sung at the celebration of the First Anniversary of the kidnapping, at Boston, of Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave : - the kidnapping done under the forms of law, and by its officers, 12 June 1851. The deed celebrated at the Melodeon, Boston, 12 June 1852.

By Annie Parker

" The slaves at Oak Grove did not mourn for poor Elsie when she died," said aunt Phillis, continuing her narrative. " She was never a favorite, and from the time her beauty attracted the notice of the young master, and he began to pet her, she grew prouder and prouder, and treated the other slaves as if she were their mistress, rather than their equal. They hated her for her influence over the master, and she knew it, and that made matters worse between them.

When she died in giving birth to her second child, her little boy and I were the only ones who felt any sorrow. The master had grown tired of her, though he had once been very fond of her. Besides, he was at this time making arrangements for his marriage with a beautiful Northern lady, so that whatever he might have felt, nobody knew anything about it.

of her remarkable beauty. Her little boy was very fond of his mother, and she doated upon him. He mourned and mourned for her, after her death, till I almost thought he would die too. He was a beautiful boy, and at that time looked very much like his father, which was probably the reason why the master sold him, before he brought his bride to Oak Grove.

It was very hard for me to part with poor Elsie's little boy. But the master chose to sell him, and my tears availed nothing. Zilpha, Elsie's infant, was given me to take care of when her mother died, and with that I was obliged to be content.

Marion Lee, the young mistress, was very beautiful, but as different from poor Elsie as light from darkness. She had deep blue eyes, with long silken lashes, and a profusion of soft brown hair. She always made me think of a half-blown rosebud, she was so delicate and fair. She proved a kind and gentle mistress. All the slaves loved her, as well they might, for she did everything in her power to make them comfortable and happy.

She made a great pet of Zilpha. No one ever told her that she was her husband's child. No one would have dared to tell her, even if she had not been too much beloved, for any one to be willing to grieve her, as the knowledge of this fact must have done.

In due time she, too, had a little girl, beautiful like herself. Zilpha was delighted with the baby. She never wearied of kissing its tiny hands, and talking to it in her sweet coaxing tones. Mrs. Lee said Zilpha should be Ida's little maid. The children, accordingly, grew up together, and when they were old enough to be taught from books, everything that Ida learned, Zilpha learned also.

When Zilpha was seventeen, she was more beautiful than her mother had ever been, and she was as gentle and loving as Elsie had been passionate and proud. There was a beautiful, pleading look in her large dark eyes, when she lifted the long lashes so that you could see into their clear depths. She was graceful as a young fawn, and playful as a kitten, and she had read and studied so many books, that I thought she knew almost as much as the master himself.

Mr. Minturn lived at Lily bank, the estate joining Oak Grove. He was an old friend of Mr. Lee, and the families were very intimate. About this time a relative of Mi's. Minturn died at the far South, and left her a large number of slaves, I do n't know how they were all disposed of, but one of the number, a very handsome young man, married Jerry, was brought to Lilybank, and became Mr. Minturn's coachman. He was considered a great prize, for he had a large muscular frame, and was capable of enduring a great amount of bodily fatigue. He was, also, for a slave, very intelligent, and from being at first merely the

Owing to the intimacy between the heads of the two families, the young people of both were much together. Ida often spent whole days at Lilybank, and as Zilpha always accompanied her, she had ample opportunity to become acquainted with the new man Jerry.

It so happened that I, being more closely confined by my duties at home, had never seen Jerry, when in the summer following his coming to Lilybank, Mrs. Lee went to visit her friends at the North, and took me with her. Ida and Zilpha remained at home. We were gone three months. A few days after our return, Zilpha told me that she was soon to be married to Jerry. The poor child was very happy. She had evidently given him her whole heart. We talked long that day, for I wanted to know how it had been brought about, and she told me all, with the simplicity and artlessness of a child. They had felt great anxiety lest their masters should oppose the marriage. But that fear was removed. Mr. Lee had himself proposed it, and Mr. Minturn gladly consented. I rejoiced to see my darling so happy, and felt truly thankful to God that the warm love of her heart had not been blighted.

That same evening Jerry came to see Zilpha. She called me immediately, for I had never seen him, and she wished us to meet. The moment I looked upon his face, I knew he was my poor

Zilpha made me sit down, and brought me a glass of water, wondering all the time, poor thing, what had made me ill so suddenly. I soon recovered sufficiently to remember that I must not betray the cause of my agitation. I did not speak much, but watched Jerry's face as closely as I could, without arresting their attention. Every moment strengthened the conviction that my suspicion was correct. There was the same proud look that Elsie had, the same flashing eye, and slightly curled lip, and when he carelessly brushed back the hair from his forehead, I saw a scar upon it, which I knew was caused by a fall but a little while before his mother died. O God ! I thought, what will become of my darling child !

I soon left the room, on the pretence that my mistress wanted me, but really that I might shut myself into my own room and think. I did not close my eyes that night, and when the morning dawned, I was as far as ever from knowing what I ought to do. At last I resolved to see the master as early as I could, and tell him all.

After breakfast I went to the library to fetch a book for my mistress, and found the master there. He was reading, but looked up as I entered, and said kindly, " What do you wish for, Phillis ? " I named the book my mistress wanted. He told me where it was. I took it from the shelf, and stood with it in my hand. The opportunity which i desired had come, but I trembled from head to foot, and had no power to speak. I do n't know how I ever found words to tell him that Jerry was his own child. I tried, afterwards, to remember what I said, but I could not recall a word. He turned deadly pale, and sat for some minutes silent. At length in a low, husky voice, he said, " You will not be likely to speak of this, and it is well, for it must not be known. I shall satisfy myself if what you have told me is true. If I find that it is, I shall know what to do. You may go."

I took the book to my mistress, and was sent by her to find Zilpha. She was in the garden with Ida, and when I called her, she came bounding towards me with such a bright, happy face, that I could scarcely restrain my tears. Zilpha was a beautiful reader. She often read aloud to her mistress, by the hour together. I liked to take my sewing and sit with them at such times, but that day I was glad to shut myself up alone in my room.

The next day the master sent for me to the library. " It is true, Phillis," he said to me, "Jerry is without doubt poor Elsie's child." If an arrow had pierced my heart at that moment, I could not have felt" worse, for though I had thought I was sure it was so, all the while a hope was lingering in my heart that I was mistaken. I did not speak, and the master seeing how I trembled, kindly told me to sit down, and went on ; "I did not see Jerry myself, he said, Mr. Minturn made all necessary inquiries for me. Jerry remembers his mother, and describes her in a way that admits of no mistake. He remembers, too, that a gentleman used sometimes to visit his mother, who took a great deal of notice of him, and would let him sit upon his lap and play with his watch seals. His mother used to be very happy when this gentleman came, and when he Avent away she would almost smother the little boy with kisses, and talk to him of his papa. I offered to buy Jerry, but Mr. Minturn would not part with him. If he would have consented, I might easily have disposed of the whole matter."

A horrible fear took possession of me at these words. Would he dare to sell my darling Zilpha ? The thought almost maddened me. Scarce knowing what I did, I threw myself on my knees before him, and begged him not to think a second time of selling his own flesh and blood. He angrily bade me rise, and not meddle with that in which I had no concern. That he had a right, which he should exercise, to do what he would with his own. He had thought it proper, he said, to tell me what I had just heard, but charged me never again to name the subject to any living being, and not to let any one suspect from my appearance that anything unusual had occurred. With this he dismissed me.

Jerry came once to Oak Grove, but I would not see him. Zilpha I avoided as much as possible. I could not bear to look upon her innocent happiness, knowing as I did that it would soon be changed into unspeakable misery.

The first three days the master was away from home. " On Thursday he returned. When I chanced to meet him, he looked uneasy ; and if he came to his wife's room and found me with her, he would make some excuse for sending me away.

Saturday was a beautiful bright October day, and Ida proposed to Zilpha that they should take their books and spend the forenoon in the woods. They went off in high spirits. I thought I had never seen my Zilpha look so lovely. Love and happiness had added a softer grace to her whole being. I followed them to the door, and she kissed me twice before leaving me ; then looking back, when she had gone a little way, and seeing me still standing there, she threw a kiss to me with her little hand, and looked so bright and joyous, that my aching heart felt a new pang of sorrow. What was it whispered to me* then that I should never see her again ?

I went back to my work, and presently the master came and asked for Ida. He wished her to ride with him. I told him where she was, and he went in search of her. Zilpha did not come back with them. " We told her to stay if she wished,'' Ida said. But my heart misgave me. I should

I cannot bear, even now, to recall the events of that day. My worst fears were realized. During my master's absence, he had sold my darling to a Southern trader, who only waited a favorable opportunity to take her away without the knowledge of the family. He had been that morning with JVIr. Lee, and was in the house when Mr. Lee returned with Ida from the woods.

I do n't know how the master ever satisfied his wife and Ida about Zilpha's disappearance. There was a report that she had run away. But I do n't think they believed it. Certainly / never did.

I almost forgot my own sorrow when I saw how poor Jerry felt when he knew what had happened. Of course he did not know what I did. He never knew why Zilpha was sent away, but he knew she was sold, and that there was little reason to hope he should ever see her again. He went about his work as usual, but there was a look in his eye which made one tremble.

Before many days he was missing, and though his master searched the country, and took every possible means to find him, he could discover no trace of the fugitive. I felt satisfied he had followed the North Star, but I said nothing, and was glad the poor fellow had gone from what would constantly remind him of Zilpha.

During the following winter, Mrs. Lee had a dangerous illness. I watched over her night and day, and when she recovered, my master was so grateful for what I had done, that he gave me my freedom, and money enough to bring me to the North.

Of Zilpha's fate I have been able to learn nothing. I can only leave her with God, who though his vengeance is long delayed, hears and treasures up every sigh and tear of his poor slavechildren.

I saw, a few days since, a man who knows Jerry. He is living not many miles from me, and I shall try to see him before I die. But I shall never tell him the whole extent of the wrongs he suffered in slavery.

18 - , (the dates it is unnecessary to specify,) became the owner of a man. He had never owned one before ; and he has had so much trouble with him, that I doubt if he will ever allow himself to become owner of one again. My friend is not a Southerner; yet the circumstances by which so singular a dispensation fell to him, it is unnecessary for me to recount. I will briefly describe the master and the man, and show how they succeeded in their relationship.

The master was wholly respectable in his life and character ; endowed with good sense ; well enough off* in the world, able to hire service, if he needed, and to pay for it : his temper not bad, though sometimes irritable ; - he could be provoked as others can. He had strong passions, and sometimes in the course of his life they had got the better of him, and had led him to conduct which, in the coolness of his mind, he bitterly repented. Circumstances might have made a bad man of him. The instructions which he received in his childhood, the example of his parents, the respectable neighborhood in which he resided, the church which he attended, all had a favorable influence upon him. So he became a man of principle. He had not, indeed, the highest principles ; he was no hero ; he was not disposed to make himself a martyr. His religion- was no other than the common religion of the church to which he was attached, and it demanded no peculiar sacrifice of him. He was a member of one of the leading political parties, and did his full duty in maintaining its cause. He called himself a patriot, however, not a partizan ; and talked ever of his country, as the highest exemplification of the gi^eat principles of liberty, and considered the success of our institutions as the hope of humanity. Yet he loved his country, - not his race. He was not without charity to the poor ; and was not unwilling to see them, individually, rising above destitution. Yet he did not like to associate with men lower in the social scale than himself; but had an ambition that impelled him to court the society of those whose station and influence were superior to his own. Nor did he care for, or believe in, any suggestions or plans, the object of which was the elevation of the poor as a class, and the levelling upwards of the human race. He thought that as a divine authority has declared to us, " ye have the poor with you always," it was ordained that we should always have them, - that they were an exceedingly useful class, as a foundation in society, that the prosperous men of the world could not do without them, and that it was not best to give them too much hope of rising.

Perhaps you will say I have given you no very definite description of him. You will think, perhaps, were I called to write of him again, I might, at once, better make use of the words of the poet,

I fear, however, that I shall be unable to be more particular in my description of the servant ; It is said, " like master, like man," and, indeed, leaving out the expressions above, which show the relationship of the master to the community and the church, the description of temper and of general, moral, and religious principle, would answer to be repeated now. Suffice it to say, the man was not bad ; that is, not thoroughly bad. He cherished no secret desire for liberty. His master had no real fear of his attempting to escape. He loved his master ; and some thought, who did not wholly know him, that never slave loved a master with more fondness and devotion. Yet I know that he was often disobedient. Passages, - not of arms, - but of ill-temper, of reproach, and of insolence, not unfrequently occurred between them. High words were used, hard looks and moody oftener still, perhaps, yet the master never struck his servant, nor did the servant ever offer violence tow^ards his master. But at times, they would have been very glad to part company, if the one could have easily escaped, or the other could have made out to do without him. Much of Ihe disobedience which gave serious offence to the master, was the result of inadvertence. Lessons, the most frequently enjoined, were forgotten; they were not always listened to with an obedient mind. Years long the master required this or that service from day to day, and yet the command was not once a year, I may say, attended to. Always the master was saying, - "to-morrow I shall turn over a new leaf with him ; " but he had not energy enough to carry his purpose into effect. He intended to give his servant at least some moral education, to teach him self-control, to prevent his bursts of passion, not by the infliction of punishment, but by a true moral discipline; yet the work was always delayed, and never accomplished. You will say, the master had himself some idle fancies that he ought not to have indulged, and that a severer course would have been more successful. But he was one of those who doubt the advantages and shrink from the application of severity, and he would have been no more prompt and resolute and persevering with his servant than with himself.

more. The master was at the age of twenty-one, when he came into possession of his man. The connection Avill never be dissolved, except, at least, by death. Indeed, reader, if you have not already seen it, master and man were but one and the same person.

And this is the moral of my little fiction. Who will believe that any man ought to have the ownership of another, Avhen it is so rare to find one of us wholly competent to govern and to own himself? Nay, the better a rhan is, and the more qualified to direct and to govern others with absolute sway, the less is he willing to take the responsibility of the disposal of them, - but seeing his own unfitness for the office of lord, even of himself, he prays, not that he may be a master of others, but himself a servant of God.

Damascus In 1851

No city has been more variously described than Damascus, because none has more contrasted features. A spruce Yankee, hearing " Silk Buckingham's", description of his " Paradise," and seeing merely narrow, half-paved, mat-covered streets, and dirty, mud-walled buildings, w^ould prefer his native " Slabtown" to the " most refreshing scene in all our travels." And yet Damascus is one of the wonders of the world, unrivalled in what is peculiarly its own, admitting no comparison with any existing city, revelling in a beauty and a splendor belonging to Islamism more than Christianity, characterizing the age of the Caliphs rather than of the Crystal Palace.

In antiquity it has no rival. Nineveh, Babylon, Palmyra, its contemporaries, have wholly perished ; while this oldest inhabited place has lost none of its population, yielded none of its local preeminence, abandoned but one of the arts for which it was so renowned, and taken not a tinge of European thought, worship, life. It numbers not far from one hundred and fifty thousand souls, of whom twenty thousand may be Greek and Armenian Christians. It lies in an exquisite garden at the foot of Anti-Lebanon, in a plain of inexhaustible fertility, watered by innumerable brooklets from those ancient streams " Abana and Pharphar," and shut in by vast groves of walnut and poplar,^ a " verdurous wall of Paradise," which are all that the traveller sees for hours as he draws near the city of " Abraham's steward."

Originally the seat of a renowned kingdom, and' once the capital of the Saracen empire, it is now the centre of an Ottoman Pashalik, but virtually the metropolis of Syria, as it was in the earliest time. Miss JVIartineau and some others carelessly give it a length of seven miles ; but the real extent of the city -walls in any one direction is not more than two. The gardens and groves around, however, take the same name, and are over twenty miles in circuit, of a studied, picturesque wildness, shaded lanes, running side by side with merry brooks, the whole overshadowed by the deepest forest, and forming delicious relief from the sunburnt plains of Syria. Besides the walnut, so much prized for its fruit all through the East, and the poplar, the main dependence for building, the famous damson, or Damascene plum, abounds the citron, orange, and pomegranate spread their fruit around the vine is everywhere seen, and only three miles off stands the forest of damask rose-trees whence the most delicious attar is made. But a^ genuine American will prefer the walnut-tree to all others, because of its freedom of growth, massiveness of trunk, depth of shade, and impressive reminiscence of home. These trees, together with the mulberry, do very much for the commerce of the city. But, indeed, Damascus is the chief depot of manufactures for Syria. Silk goods cannot be bought to such advantage elsewhere, nor of such antique patterns, nor of genuine " damask" colors. The business has suffered somewhat of late, because Turkish husbands discovering that English prints are so much cheaper, and their wives fancying the flowing calicoes to be so much prettier than the patterns which their grandmothers wore, foreign goods are supplanting the domestic ;. and a macadamized road is contemplated from the city to its seaport Beiroot, whose effect would be to make British and French manufactures still more common, but, at the same time, to give free circulation to the handicraft of Damascus. As at Constantinople, Cairo, and elsewhere, each trade occupies its own quarter, the jewellers, pipemakers, silk-dealers, grocers, saddlers, having each their exclusive neighborhood ; none of the Bazars are such noble edifices as cluster around the mosque of St. Sophia ; and in the rainy season (that is, during their winter) the pavement is so wretched and slippery, and such a mass of mud and water oozes down from the rotten awnings, that one does no justice to the unequalled richness of some of the fabrics and the grandeur of some of the khans. One traveller informs the public that there is a grand " Bazar for wholesale business" of variegated black and white marble, " surmounted by an ample dome," with a lively fountain in the centre. There are thirty-one such buildings, which we should call Exchanges, bearing each the name of the Sultan who erected them. Those that I visited were contiguous to the only street which wears a name in the East, and that name, familiar to us in the book of Acts, " Strait," Dritto, as your guide mumbles the word, a long avenue containing the only hotel in the city.

An oriental peculiarity which makes the large towns exceedingly interesting is, that every occupation is carried on out of doors, and right under your eyes as you stroll along. Here the silk web is stretched upon the outside wall of some extended building ; here the butcher is dressing the meat, perhaps for your dinner, right upon the sidewalk; and here a sort of extempore sausage is cooking, so that one might almost eat it as he walks, a capital idea for hasty eaters, and a very nice article in its way. There is no other part of the world where so much cooking is tp be seen all the while, and such loads of sweetmeats gladden the eyes of childhood, and such luscious compounds, scented with attar, spread temptation before every sense. The business of " El-Shans" might almost be headed by the five hundred public bakers, though the silk is still the principal manufacture, and there are reported to be seven hvmdred and forty-eight dealers in damask, thirty-four silk -winders, one hundred silk dyers, and one hundred and forty -three weavers of the same article.

The famous Damascus blades are nothing but an " antiquity" now, - they are uniformly called so by the people, were offered to our purchase in very small quantities by persons who knew nothing of their manufacture, at exorbitant prices, and in very uncouth forms. They appeared to be curiosities to them, as they certainly were to us, and are said to be sometimes manufactured in England., A mace, offered for sale among these scimetars of wavy steel, smacked of the Crusaders' time, and was richly inlaid with gold ; the fire-arms, or blunderbusses, were grotesque and unwieldy, richly mounted, and gorgeously ornamented.

An attempt is making in certain quarters to persuade the civilized world that Turkey has still some military power. Of this almost imperial city the citadel is but a mass of ruins. Count Guyon, a confederate general with Kossuth, and now a Turkish Pasha and drill-officer, assured us it would be repaired and strengthened ; but the cityw^alls offer no defence against a modern army ; and the Turkish soldier, notwithstanding his courage and endurance, cannot be bastinadoed into military science ; neither have educated christian officers, like Guyon, any real influence. I frequently saw the sentinels asleep while upon duty, and recent experience has proved them incapable of standing before a far smaller amount of really trained troops. Some of the barracks at Damascus are rather the finest which the Sultan possesses, and: among the best in the world, - some, too, of the military exercises are pursued with a creditable zeal, - but, on the whole, a more slatternly corps of men was never seen, nor one less confident in themselves.