THE SABLE CLOUD:

A SOUTHERN TALE, WITH NORTHERN COMMENTS. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF"A SOUTH-SIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY. "

"I did not err, there does a sable cloudTurn forth her silver lining on the night"

MILTON'S COMUS

BOSTON:TICKNOR AND FIELDS. MDCCCLXI

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by

TICKNOR AND FIELDS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGESTEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H O HOUGHTON

CONTENTS. 

 PAGECHAPTER I. DEATH AND BURIAL OF A SLAVE'S INFANT 1

CHAPTER II. NORTHERN COMMENTS ON SOUTHERN LIFE 5

CHAPTER III. MORBID NORTHERN CONSCIENCE 32

CHAPTER IV. RESOLUTIONS FOR A CONVENTION 53

CHAPTER V. THE GOOD NORTHERN LADY'S LETTER FROM THE SOUTH 59

CHAPTER VI. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 118

CHAPTER VII. OWNERSHIP IN MAN. --THE OLD TESTAMENT SLAVERY 150

CHAPTER VIII. THE TENURE 177

CHAPTER IX. DISCUSSION IN PHILEMON'S CHURCH AT THE RETURN OF ONESIMUS 205

CHAPTER X. THE FUTURE 239

CHAPTER I. 

DEATH AND BURIAL OF A SLAVE'S INFANT. 

 "The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. "

A Southern gentleman, who was visiting in New York, sent me, with hisreply to my inquiries for the welfare of his family at home, thefollowing letter which he had just received from one of his marrieddaughters in the South. 

The reader will be so kind as to take the assurance which the writerhereby gives him, that the letter was received under the circumstancesnow stated, and that it is not a fiction. Certain names and the dateonly are, for obvious reasons, omitted. 

THE LETTER. 

MY DEAR FATHER, --

You have so recently heard from and about those of us left here, andthat in a so much more satisfactory way than through letters, that itscarcely seems worth while to write just yet. But Mary left Kate's poorlittle baby in such a pitiable state, that I think it will be a reliefto all to hear that its sufferings are ended. It died about ten o'clockthe night that she left us, very quietly and without a struggle, and atsunset on Friday we laid it in its last resting-place. My husband and Iwent out in the morning to select the spot for its burial, and findingthe state of affairs in the cemetery, we chose a portion of ground andwill have it inclosed with a railing. They have been very careless inthe management of the ground, and have allowed persons to inclose andbury in any shape or way they chose, so that the whole is cut up in away that makes it difficult to find a place where two or three gravescould be put near each other. We did find one at last, however, aboutthe size of the Hazel Wood lots; and we will inclose it at once, so thatwhen another, either from our own family or those of the other branches, wants a resting-place, there shall not be the same trouble. Poor oldTimmy lies there; but it is in a part of the grounds where, the sextontells us, the water rises within three feet of the surface; so, ofcourse, we did not go there for this little grave. His own familyselected his burial-place, and probably did not think of this. 

Kate takes her loss very patiently, though she says that she had no ideahow much she would grieve after the child. It had been sick so long thatshe said she wanted to have it go; but I knew when she said it that shedid not know what the parting would be. It is not the parting alone, butit is the horror of the grave, --the tender child alone in the far offgloomy burial-ground, the heavy earth piled on the tender little breast, the helplessness that looked to you for protection which you could notgive, and the emptiness of the home to which you return when the childis gone. He who made a mother's heart and they who have borne it, alonecan tell the unutterable pain of all this. The little child is socarefully and tenderly watched over and cherished while it is withyou, --and then to leave it alone in the dread grave where the winds andthe rain beat upon it! I know they do not feel it, but since mine hasbeen there, I have never felt sheltered from the storms when they come. The rain seems to fall on my bare heart. I have said more than I meantto have said on this subject, and have left myself little heart to writeof anything else. Tell Mammy that it is a great disappointment to methat her name is not to have a place in my household. I was always sopleased with the idea that my Susan and little Cygnet should grow uptogether as the others had done; but it seems best that it should not beso, or it would not have been denied. Tell Mary that Chloe staid thatnight with Kate, and has been kind to her. All are well at her house. 

 * * * * *

Of the persons named in this letter, KATE is a slave-mother, belonging to the lady who writes the letter. 

CYGNET was Kate's babe. 

MAMMY is a common appellation for a slave-nurse. The Mammy to whom themessage in the letter is sent was nursery-maid when the writer of theletter and several brothers and sisters were young; and, more than this, she was maid to their mother in early years. She is still in thisgentleman's family. Her name is Cygnet; Kate's babe was named for her. 

MARY is the lady's married sister. 

CHLOE is Mary's servant. 

The incidental character of this letter and the way in which it came tome, gave it a special charm. Some recent traveller, describing hissensations at Heidelberg Castle, speaks of a German song which he heard, at the moment, from a female at some distance and out of sight. Thisletter, like that song, derives much of its effect from theunconsciousness of the author that it would reach a stranger. 

Having read this letter many times, always with the same emotions as atfirst, I resolved to try the effect of it upon my friend, A. FreemanNorth. He is an upright man, much sought after in the settlement ofestates, especially where there are fiduciary trusts. Placing the letterin his hands, I asked him, when he should have read it, to put inwriting his impressions and reflections. The result will be found in thenext chapter. Mrs. North, also, will engage the reader's kind attention. 

CHAPTER II. 

NORTHERN COMMENTS ON SOUTHERN LIFE. 

 "As blind men use to bear their noses higher Than those that have their eyes and sight entire. "

 HUDIBRAS. 

 "One woman reads another's character Without the tedious trouble of decyphering. "

 BEN JONSON. _New Inn_. 

So then, this is a Southern heart which prompts these loving, tenderstrains. This lady is a slave-holder. It is a slave toward whom thisfellow-feeling, this gentleness of pity, these acts of loving-kindness, these yearnings of compassion, these respectful words, and all this careand assiduity, flow forth. 

Is she not some singular exception among the people of her country; someabnormal product, an accidental grace, a growth of luxuriant richness ina deadly soil, or, at least, is she not like Jenny Lind among singers?Surely we shall not look upon her like again. It would be difficult tofind even here at the North, --the humane North, nay, even among thosewho have solemnly consecrated themselves as "the friends of the slave, "and who "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, "--a heartmore loving and good, affections more natural and pure. I am surprised. This was a slave-babe. Its mother was this lady's slave. I am confused. This contradicts my previous information; it sets at nought my ideasupon a subject which I believed I thoroughly understood. 

A little negro slave-babe, it seems, is dead, and its owner and mistressis acting and speaking as Northerners do! Yes, as Northerners do evenwhen their own daughters' babes lie dead!

The letter must be a forgery. No; here it is before me, in thehandwriting of the lady, post-marked at the place of her residence. Butis it not, after all, a fiction? I can believe almost anything soonerthan that I am mistaken in the opinions and feelings which arecontradicted by this letter. In the spirit of Hume's argument againstthe miracles of the Bible, I feel disposed, almost, to urge that itwould be a greater miracle that the course of nature at the South in aslave-holder's heart should thus be set aside than that there should notbe, in some way, deception about this letter. But still, here is theletter; and it is written to her father, whom she could not deceive, whom she had no motive, no wish, to delude. Had it been written to aNortherner, I could have surmised that she was attempting to make falseimpressions about slavery, and its influence on the slave-holder. Whyshould she tell her father this simple tale, unless real affection forthe babe and its mother were impelling her? This tries my faith. It islike an undesigned coincidence in holy writ, which used so to stagger myunbelief. Possibly, however, --for I must maintain my previousconvictions if I can, --possibly her father is such as our anti-slaverylecturers and writers declare a slave-holder naturally to be, and hisdaughter, herself a mother, is seeking to touch his heart and turn himfrom his cruelties as a slave-holder by showing him, in this indirect, beautiful manner, that slave-mothers have the feelings of human beings. Perhaps I may therefore compromise this matter by allowing, on one hand, that the daughter is all that she appears to be, and claiming, on theother, that the father is all that a slave-holder ought to be to verifyour Northern theories. But she herself is a slave-holder, and thereforeby our theory she ought to be imbruted. I beg her pardon, and that ofher father; but they must consider how hard it is for us at the North toconquer all our prejudices even under the influence of such ademonstration as her letter. I ask one simple question: Is not thisslave-babe, (and her mother, ) of "the down-trodden, " and is not thislady one of the down-treading? And yet she weeps, --not because, as Iwould have supposed, she had lost one hundred and fifty dollars in thechild, but as though she loved it like the sick and dying child of afellow-creature, of a mother like herself. Now, who at the North everhears of such a thing in slavery? The old New York Tabernacle could havesaid, It is not in me;--the modern Boston Music Hall says, It is not inme. None of the antislavery papers, political or religious, say, We haveheard the fame thereof with our ears. Our Northern instructors on thesubject of slavery, the orators, the Uncle Tom's Cabins, "The Scholar anAgitator, " have never taught us to believe this. The South, we areinstructed to think, is a Golgotha, a valley of Hinnom; compacts with itare covenants with hell. But here is one holy angel with its music; aministering spirit; but is she a Lot in Sodom? Abdiel in the revoltedprincipality? a desolate, mourning Rizpah on that rock which overlooksfour millions of slaves and their tortures?

In a less instructed state of mind on this subject, I should once havesaid, on reading this letter, --This is slavery. Here is a view of lifeat the South. As a traveller accidentally catches a sight of a familyaround their table, and domestic life gleams upon him for a moment; asthe opening door of a church suffers a few notes of the psalm to reachthe ear of one at a distance, this letter, written evidently amidsthousehold duties and cares, discloses, in a touching manner, thedomestic relations of Southern families and their servants whereverChristianity prevails. It is one strain of the ordinary music of life inten thousands of those households, falling accidentally upon our ears, and giving us truthful, artless impressions, such as labored statementsand solemn depositions would not so well convey, and which theories, counter-statements, arguments, and invectives never can refute. Oursenior pastor would say that the letter is like the Epistles ofJohn, --not a doctrinal exposition, but a breathing forth of the spiritwhich the evangelical history had inspired. I have come to know more, however, than I did when I could have had such amiable but unenlightenedfeelings. I have read the "Key to Uncle Tom" and the "Barbarism ofSlavery. "

Still, I am sorely puzzled. "Kate, " she says, "wanted to have it go, ithad been sick so long; but I knew, when she said it, she did not knowwhat the parting would be. "

"The parting!" Has she read our Northern abstracts and versions of theDred Scott Decision, and are there, in her view, any rights in a negrowhich she is bound to respect? Has she not heard that the Supreme Courtof the United States has absolved her from all her feelings of humanity?"The parting!" Where has she lived not to know how, according to ourlecturers, families are parted at the auction-block in the SouthernStates without the least compunction? We are constantly told, --has shenot heard it?--that the slave at the South is a mere "chattel, " and thata slave-child is bought and sold as recklessly as a calf, and that aparting between a slave-mother and her children, sold and separated forlife, is an occurrence as familiar as the separation of animals andtheir young, and no more regarded by slave-holders than divorcements inthe barn-yard. This being so, it must follow that when a slave-babedies, the only sorrow in the hearts of the white owners is such as theyfeel when a colt is kicked to death or a heifer is choked. This must beso, if all is true which is meant to be conveyed when we are told sooften at the North that the slave is a mere "chattel. " Therefore I ampuzzled by this lady's tears for the mother of this little black babe. She says of the mother of that poor little negro infant slave, "I knewshe did not dream what the parting would be. " I repeat it, my theory ofslavery, that which I hold in common with all enlightened friends offreedom, requires that this lady should have a debased, imbruted nature, for she owns human beings, has made property of God's image in man. Andnow I feel creeping over me a dreadful temptation to think that one mayhold fellow-creatures in bondage and yet be really humane, gentle, andas good as a Northerner! What fearful changes in politics would comeabout should our people believe this! It cannot be that our great partyof Freedom can ever go to pieces and disappoint the hopes of the world;yet this would be the case, if the feelings stirred by this lettershould gain a general acceptance. I cannot gainsay the facts. Here isthe letter. May it never see the light; people are much more influencedby such things than by mere logic, and oh, what would befall the nationshould our Northern excitement against slavery cease, and should weleave the whole subject to the South and to God! "What if people shouldcome to believe that the Southerners--fifteen or sixteen States of thisUnion--are as humane, Christian, and conscientious as the North!

Who will resolve my painful doubts? I do crave to know what possiblemotive this lady could have had in taking so much thought and care aboutthe last resting-place of this poor little black "chattel. " You and yourhusband, dear lady, seem to be as kind and painstaking as though youknew that a fellow-creature of yours was returning, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust. "

One great Northern "friend of the slave" tells us that the slaves at theSouth are degraded so to the level of brutes, that baptizing them andadmitting them to Christian ordinances is about the same as though heshould say to his dogs, "I baptize thee, Bose, in, " etc. This, he tellsus, he repeated many times here, and in England. [1] Nothing but love oftruth and just hatred of "the sum of all villanies" could, of course, have made him venture so near the verge of unpardonable blasphemy as tospeak thus. Yet your feelings and behavior toward this babe are indirect conflict with his theory. Pray whom am I to believe?

 [Footnote 1: See "Sigma's" communications to the _Boston Transcript_, August, 1857. ]

Perhaps now I have hit upon a solution. Some people, Walter Scott is aninstance, bury their favorite dogs with all the honors of a decoratedsepulture. Rather than believe that your slaves are commonly regarded byyou as your fellow-creatures, having rights which you love to consider, or, that you do not mercilessly dispose of them to promote your selfishinterests, we, the Northern people, who have had the very best ofteachers on the subject of slavery, learnedly theoretical, reasoningfrom the eternal principles of right, would incline to believe that yourinterest in the burial of this little slave-babe was merely that whichyour own child would feel on seeing her kitten carefully buried at thefoot of the apple-tree. 

One thing, however, suggests a difficulty in feeling our way to thisconclusion. I mention it because of the perfect candor which guides thesentiments and feelings of all Northern people in speaking of slaveryand slave-holders. 

The difficulty is this: Who was "poor old Timmy"? Some old slave in yourfather's family, I apprehend. You seem sad at finding that his grave isnot in the best place. "The water rises within three feet of thesurface;"--we infer, from the regret which you seem to feel at this, that you have some care and pity for your old slaves, which extends evento their graves. But we had well nigh borrowed strength to ourprejudices from this place of old Timmy's grave, and were saying withourselves, Thus the slave-holders bury their slaves where the water mayoverflow them; but you seem to apologize to your father for Timmy'shaving such a poor place for his remains by saying, "His own" (Timmy's)"family selected his burying-place, and probably did not think of this. "Very kind in you, dear madam, to speak so. "The friends of the slave"are greatly obliged to you for such consideration. You say, "His ownfamily selected his burying-place. " Do slaves have such a liberty? Canthey go and come in their burying-grounds and choose places for thegraves of their kindred? This is being full as good to your servants, inthis particular, as we are at the North to our domestics. You thoughtpoor old Timmy's grave was not in a spot sufficiently choice for thislittle babe's grave, and, it seems, you inclosed a spot, and inauguratedit by the burial of this child, for the last resting-place of otherbabes, the kindred of this child and of your other servants. This looksas though there were some domestic permanence in some parts of the Southamong the servants of a household; and as though the birth and death ofa child have some other associations with you than those which belong tothe breeding and sale of poultry. We are truly glad to think of allthis. It is exceedingly pleasant to have a good opinion of people, muchmore so than to believe evil of them, and to accuse them wrongfully. 

In speaking thus to you, I make myself think--and I hope I do not seemself-complacent in saying it, for you must have learned from the tone ofmy remarks, if from no other source, that self-complacency is not aNorthern characteristic, especially in our feelings toward theSouth--but I make myself think, by this candid admission of what seemsgood in you, of a venturesome remark by Paul the Apostle to your brotherslave-holder Philemon, in that epistle in which he sends back the slaveOnesimus, --a very trying epistle to us at the North, though on thewhole, many of us keep up our confidence in inspiration notwithstandingthis epistle, especially as it is explained to us by some at the Northwho know most of Southern slavery, our inbred hatred of which, it isinsisted by some of our best scholars, should control even ourinterpretation of the word of God. Paul speaks to this slave-holder, Philemon, of "the acknowledging of every good thing which is inyou, "--which we think was exceedingly charitable, considering that itwas said to a holder of slaves; and perhaps quite too much so; for thetruth is not to be spoken at all times, and especially not of those whohold their fellow-men in bondage. I am often constrained to think thatit was an inconsiderate, unwise thing in the Apostle to take thisfavorable view of that slave-holder; he may, however, have written bypermission, not by commandment; that would save his inspiration fromreproach; for had he been inspired in writing this epistle, I askmyself, Would he not have foreseen our great Northern conflict with themightiest injustice upon which the sun ever shone? and would he not haveforeseen how much aid and comfort that epistle would give the friends ofoppression on this continent? One first truth in the minds of the mosteminent "friends of freedom" is this: "Slavery is the sum of allvillanies. " Other truths follow in their natural order; among them thequestion of the inspiration of the Bible has a place; but slavery leadssome of them to think lightly, and to speak disparagingly, of the Bible, because it comes in conflict with their theories regardingslave-holding, which is certainly not always referred to in Scripture inthe tone which we prefer. There was the Apostle James, too, writingabout "works" in the same unguarded manner as Paul when speaking ofslaves and slave-holders. Pity that he could not have let "works" alone, seeing it was so important for the other Apostles to establish the oneidea of justification by faith. He made great trouble for Luther and hiscompanions in their contest with Popery. Luther had to reject hisepistle; "_straminea epistola_" he called it, --an epistle ofstraw, --weak, worthless; and he denied its inspiration, because itconflicted with his doctrine of "faith alone. " So much for trying to becandid and just, and for presenting the other side of a subject, or of aman, when the spirit of the age is averse to it, and candor is indanger of being looked upon as a time-serving thing. Neither Paul norJames, however, had felt the tonic, bracing effect of good anti-slaveryprinciples, or they would not have written, the one such a letter to aslave-holder, and the other such a back-oar argument against "faithalone. " However, I am disposed to think well of Paul and James, notwithstanding these the great errors of their lives. Indeed I canalmost forgive them, when I am reading other things which they said anddid. You will please acknowledge, therefore, my dear madam, that ingiving you credit for kind feelings toward a poor slave and its mother, we are disposed to be just; yet I beg of you not to think that I abateone jot or tittle of my belief that, in theory, slavery is "the sum ofall villanies, " "an enormous wrong, " "a stupendous injustice. "

I have just been reading your letter once more, and the foolish tearspester me so that I can scarce see out of my eyes. I find, dear madam, that you have known a bitter sorrow which so many parents are carryingwith them to the grave. Your words make me think so of little graveselsewhere, that I forget for the time that you are a slave-holder. Norcan I hardly believe that your touching words are suggested by the deathof a slave's babe, when you speak of "the heavy earth piled on thetender little breast. " O my dear lady! has a slave's babe "a tenderlittle breast"? Then you really think so! And you a slave-holder!"Border Ruffianism, " perhaps, has not yet reached your heart; and yet Isuppose--forgive me if I do you wrong--that slave-holders' heartsgenerally need only to be removed to the "borders, " to manifest alltheir native "ruffianism. " Can you tell me whether there are any mothersin Missouri (near Kansas) who feel toward their slaves who are mothers, as you do? There are so many people from the North in Kansas (nearMissouri) who have gone thither to prevent you and your brethren andsisters from owning a fellow-creature there, that I trust theirinfluence will in time extend through all Missouri, and that whitemothers in that State will everywhere have such humane feelings towardthe blacks as we and you possess. 

All that I ask of you now, is, that you give Kate her liberty at once. Oh, do not say, as I fancy you will, There is not a happier being thanKate in all the land of freedom. "Fiat justitia, " dear madam, "ruatcoelum. " I cannot conceive how being "owned" is anything but a curse. Really, we forget the miseries of the Five Points, and of the dens inNew York, Boston, Buffalo, and other places at the North, the hordes inthe city and State institutions in New York Harbor, Deer Island, Boston, and all such things, in our extreme pity for poor slave-mothers, likeKate, whose children, when they get to be about nine or ten years old, are liable to be sold. Honest Mrs. Striker came to work in our family, not long since, leaving her young child at home in the care of a youngwoman who watched it for ten cents a day. I said to her, Dear Mrs. Striker, are you not glad that you live in a free state, and not where, when you return like a bird to its nest at night, you may find yourlittle one carried off, you know not where, by some man-stealer, youknow not whom?--We honor your kind feelings, madam, but you are notaware, probably, what overflowing love and tender pity there is among usNortherners, toward your slaves and their children. We aredisinterested, too; for we nearly forget our own black people here atthe North, and more especially in Canada, to care for you and yourpeople. And though hundreds of innocent young people are decoyed intoour Northern cities yearly from the country and are made the victims ofunhallowed passions, yet the thought that some of your young people onthose remote, solitary plantations, can be compelled by their masters todo wrong on pain of being sold, fills us with such unaffected distressthat we think but little of voluntary or compulsory debauchery in ourown cities; but we think of dissolving the Union to rid ourselves ofseeming complicity with such wickedness as we see to be inherent in therelation of master and slave. We at the North should all be wicked if wehad such opportunities; we know, therefore, that you must be. Becauseyou will not let us reprove you for it, we cut off our correspondencewith your Southern ecclesiastical bodies. But I began to speak of littlegraves. You will see by my involuntary wandering from them how full ourhearts are of your colored people, and how self-forgetful we are in ourdesires and efforts to do them good. And yet some of your Southernpeople can find it in their hearts to set at nought these our mostsacred Northern antipathies and commiserations!

But I constantly hear some of your words in your letter striking theirgentle, sad chimes in my ears. "It is not the parting alone, but thehelplessness that looked to you for protection which you could notgive;" "the emptiness of the home to which you return when the child isgone. "

Now, for such words, I solemnly declare that, in my opinion, you, dearmadam, never had a helpless slave look to you for protection which youcould give and which you refused; you, surely, never made a slave's homedesolate by taking her child from her. No, such words as those which Ihave just quoted from your letter, are a perfect assurance that neitheryou nor your kindred, within your knowledge, are guilty of ruthlessviolations of domestic ties among your colored people. Otherwise, youcould not write as you do about "desolate homes" and "the child gone. "While I read your letter and think of you, I am reminded of those words:"Is not this he whom they seek to kill?" Why, if the insurgents' pikeswere aimed at you and your child, I would almost be willing to rush inand receive them in my own body. Yet I would not be known at the Northto have spoken so strongly as this. O my dear madam, if there were onlyfifty righteous people (counting you) in the South, people who knew what"desolate homes" and "the child gone" mean, I should almost begin tohope that our Southern Gomorrah might be spared. 

But I fear that I am trespassing too far away from my sworn fealty toNorthern opinions and feelings. I begin to fear that I may be tempted tobe recreant to my inborn, inbred notions of liberty, while holdingconverse with you, for there is something extremely seductive to aNortherner in slavery; it is like the apple and the serpent to thewoman; so that whoever goes to the South, or has anything to do withslave-holders, is apt to lose his integrity; there is a Circeaninfluence there for Northern people; thousands of once good, anti-slavery men now lie dead and buried as to their reputations here atthe North, in consequence of having to do with the seductiveslave-power; they would fill Bonaventura Cemetery, in Savannah; theSpanish moss, swaying on the limbs of its trees, would be, in number, fit signals of their subjection to what you call right views on thesubject of slavery. 

Though I fear almost to hold converse with you, yet, conscious of myinnate love of liberty, I venture to do so. Bunker Hill is within twentymiles of my home. When I go to that sacred memorial of liberty, I striveto fortify my soul afresh against the slave-power. After hearingfavorable things said, in Boston, about the South, I can go to FaneuilHall, and there, the doors being carefully shut, walk enthusiasticallyabout the room, almost shouting, "Sam. Adams!" "James Otis!""Seventy-Six!" "Shade of Warren!" "No chains on the Bay State!""Massachusetts in the van!" "Give me liberty or give me death!" I canenjoy the privilege of looking frequently on certain majestic figures inour American Apocalypse, under the present vial, --but I need not namethem. I meet in our book-stores with "Lays of Freedom, " never sung bysuch as you. I see in the shop-windows the inspiring faces, inmedallion, of those masterpieces of human nature, "the champions offreedom, " our chief abolitionists;--and shall I, can I, ever succumb tothe slave-power, even though it approach me through the holy, all-subduing charms of woman's influence? No! dear madam, ten thousandtimes, No! "Slave-power!" to borrow Milton's figure when speaking ofIthuriel and Satan, the word is as the touch of fire to powder, to ourbrave anti-slavery souls. You have, perhaps, seen a bull stopping in thestreet, pawing the ground, throwing the dust over him and coveringhimself with a cloud of it, his nose close to the earth, and a low, bellowing sound issuing from his nostrils. Your heart has died withinyou at the sight. You have been made to feel how slight a defence isfan, or sunshade, against such an antagonist, though you should makethem to fly suddenly open in his face. No enemy of his was in sight, sofar as you could perceive; you wondered what had excited his belligerentspirit; but he saw at a very great distance that which you could notsee; he heard a voice you could not hear, giving occasion to this showof prowess. That fearful combatant on the highway, dear madam, is theNorth, and you are the distant foe. You may affect to smile, perhaps, atthe valorous attitudes, the show of mettle in the bull, but you have noidea, as I had the honor to say before, how sturdy is our hatred of theslave-power and how ready we are to do battle with it. We paw in thevalley, and are not afraid. 

Never think to delude us, my dear lady, with the thought that slavery inour Territories means such ladies as you owning Kates and their littlebabes, and having such hearts toward them as you seem to have; for thatwould take away a large part of the evil in slavery. Nor must you expectus, in thinking of slavery as extending into our Territories, to pictureto ourselves an accomplished gentleman and lady searching a cemetery fora spot to be the grave of a little slave-babe, and behaving themselvesas though they had feelings toward it and its mother irrespective of themarket-price of slaves. "Border Ruffians" are the archetypes of ourideas respecting all who wish to extend slavery into our Territories. Onthe score of humanity, madam, we have no objection to you and yourhusband taking Kate and living in Kansas; how perfectly harmless thatmight seem to many! for, no doubt, you and Kate are perfectly happy asmistress and servant; you would need domestics there, and how could theyand you be better pleased than if they and you were just as Kate and younow are to each other? but, O dear madam, that would be slavery, and weare under sworn obligations here at the North to oppose the owning of ahuman being with indiscriminate hatred. Say not it seems hard that ifyou wish to live in Kansas, for example, you cannot have liberty to gothere with Kate, who is as much attached to you, I make no doubt, as anyNorthern or English servant is to a household. Perhaps it does seemperfectly natural and harmless, and no doubt Kate's relation to you isas gentle and pleasant, almost, as that of an adopted member of afamily, who is half attendant, and half companion; this we understand. You see nothing terrible in such a relation. O dear madam, you have themisfortune to have been born under the blinding, blighting influence ofslavery, and cannot see things in the true, just light in which theyappear to us, whose minds are unprejudiced and clear, and whose moralsentiments on this great subject are more correct and elevated. What ismaking all this trouble in our nation? I will answer you in the burningwords of a Northern clergyman in his speech at a meeting called tosympathize with the family of John Brown, after his death by martyrdom:"The Slave-Power itself, standing up there in all its deformity in thesight of Northern consciences, --that is the cause, [applause] and therethe responsibility belongs. "[2] Yes, you are sinning against theNorthern conscience! It is settled forever that you are evil-doers inholding your present relation to the slave. We are bound to hem you inas by fire, till, like a scorpion so fenced about, you die by your ownsting. We must proclaim liberty to your captives. Step but one foot withKate on free soil, and our watchmen of liberty, set to break every yokeand help fugitives on their way from the house of bondage, will bearound you in troops, and shout in her ear those electrifying andbeatifying words, "You are a free woman!" There her chains will drop;she will cease to be a slave, and become a human being. 

 [Footnote 2: _Boston Courier_, Nov. 26, 1859. ]

Must I refer to your letter once more? I hope to destroy its spell overme. But I wish at times that I had never seen that letter. "Tell Mammythat it is a great disappointment to me that her name is not to have aplace in my household. " Your little slave-babe, Kate's child, you namedCygnet, because Mammy's name is Cygnet, and she and your mother grew uptogether, and she has been your kind, faithful servant and friend, asmuch friend as servant, during all your youth till you were married. Andyou seek to perpetuate her name in your own household, and to have alittle Cygnet grow up with your own little Susan. "I was always pleasedwith the idea that my Susan and little Cygnet should grow up together;but it seems best that it should not be so, or it would not be denied. "All this is very sweet and beautiful; but now let me tell you, honestly, what the spontaneous thought of a Northerner is while meditating on suchan apparently lovely picture. Here it is: Suppose that Susan and littleCygnet, when both are three years old, are playing in your front-yardsome morning, and a cruel slave-trader should look over the fence, andsay to your husband, "Fine little thing there, sir; take a hunderd and aha'f for her?" I ask, Would not your husband (perhaps in need, justthen, of money to pay a note) lay down his newspaper, invite the fellowin to drink, and go through the opening scene of "Uncle Tom's Cabin, "coaxing up the fellow's price; and finally, would he not sell littleCygnet while her mother was out of sight, push poor little Susan into aroom alone to cry her eyes out, and you and your husband pocket themoney? Many of us at the North, dear madam, if you will take myunworthy self as a specimen, and I am a very moderate anti-slavery manand no fanatic, are quite as ready to believe such things of you as thecontrary. We have read "Uncle Tom's Cabin. "

Nothing could exceed the disgust and ridicule which your letter wouldmeet with at the hands of some of our best anti-slavery men. I amthinking of it, just now, as in the hands of Rev. Mr. Blank. The otherday I saw a cambric muslin handkerchief, richly embroidered, blow pastme out of a child's carriage. As I turned to get it, a dog seized it, shook it, put both his paws on it, rent it, made rags of it, threw itdown, snatched it up, and seemed vexed that there was no more of it totear. So will our abolitionists serve your letter, should they ever seeit. And, my dear madam, though I disapprove their temper and language, yet I must confess that I sympathize with them in their principles, theonly difference between them and me being that of social position andmanners. I must tell you that, after all, you are probably unaware ofthe deception which you are practising on yourself, in supposing thatyou are really as loving and gentle toward a slave-mother and her childas some might infer. Let but a good sale tempt you! I wait to knowwhether you would then write such a letter. We have a ready answer toall the kind and good things which are said about you, in this, whichyou will see and hear in all our speeches and essays, namely, "Slaveryis the sum of all villanies. " That is to all our thoughts and reasoningsabout slavery what the longitude of Greenwich is to navigation. All yourclergy, all your physicians, all your judges and lawyers, all yourfathers and mothers, your gentlemen and ladies, all your children, areheaped together by us in one name, to us an awful name, --"Slave-power. "We think about you as we do of Egypt, with Israel in bondage. 

And now that allusion furnishes me with an argument against your letter, which I must, in conclusion, and sorely against many of my feelings, letfall, like a stone, upon it, and crush it forever. Pharaoh's daughterwas touched with the cry of the little slave-babe, Moses; but what doesthat prove? that Egyptian bondage was not "an enormous wrong, " a"stupendous injustice, " "the sum of all villanies"? or that a Red Seawas not already waiting to swallow up the slave-holders, horse and foot?

You may write a thousand such letters, all over the South; but thoughthey delude me for a while, it is only until the moisture which theyraise to my eyes from my heart, by the pathos in them, dries up, andleaves my vision clear of all the blinding though beautiful mists ofthat error which has diffused itself over one half of this goodly land, and, I grieve to add, which has fallen upon many even here in NewEngland, recreant sons of liberty, traitors to the memories of FaneuilHall and Bunker Hill. 

LETTER FROM MR. NORTH, INCLOSING THE FOREGOING. INFLUENCE OF THE LETTERUPON HIS WIFE. 

MY DEAR MR. A. BETTERDAY CUMMING:--

I have, as you see, complied with your request, and herewith I send youmy thoughts and feelings in view of the good Southern lady's letter. Icame near, once or twice, abandoning some of my long-cherishedprinciples, under the influence of the letter and of the reflections towhich it gave rise. But I have been enabled to retain my integrity. I amsorry to say that the letter has made me some trouble through its effecton my wife, to whom, incautiously, I read it. Very soon after I began toread, I perceived that some natural drops were finding their way downher tear-passage, leading her to a frequent use of the handkerchief. Bythis means she interrupted me, I should say, six or eight times, duringthe reading, and as soon as I had finished she rose and left the room. 

I remained, and wrote a large part of the accompanying reflections, and, near midnight, on repairing to my room, I found that Mrs. North wasasleep. She waked me in the morning by asking me if I was asleep. I toldher that I would gladly listen to what she had to say. She said, "Willyou not please, my dear, stop the ----, and the ----, " (naming twonewspapers, ) "and take others?"

"Why, " said I, "what is the matter with them?"

She began to weep again. In a few moments she said, "I would give theworld if I could have a conversation with that Southern lady. "

"I fear, " said I, "that it would have a deleterious effect on yourattachment to the principles of liberty. "

"Liberty!" said she. "Oh, how foolish I have been! I see now that thereis another side to that question. "

"I hope, my dear, " said I, "that you will say and do nothing to occasionany reproach. Certainly, there are two sides to every question. If youmanifest any surprise at finding that there is another side to theLiberty question, I fear that some will quote to you the fable of themouse who was born in a meal-chest. "

"I never heard of it, " said she. 

"Why, " said I, "the mouse one day stole up to the edge of the chest, when the cover had been left open, and, looking round on thebarn-chamber, she said, 'Dear me, I had no idea that the world was halfso large. '"

"The cover has been down and the meal has been in my eyes long enough, "said she. "I have been so much accustomed for a long time to read in ourpapers about 'enormous wrong, ' 'stupendous injustice, ' 'theslave-breeders, ' 'sum of all villanies, ' that, unconsciously, I havecome to think of the South, indiscriminately, as though they were RobinHood's men, or"--

"O my dear, " said I, "you must have known that there are many goodpeople at the South, notwithstanding slavery. "

"How can there be one good man or woman there, " said she, "if all thatthose newspapers say of slave-holding be true? Husband, depend upon itwe have been believing a great lie. Just think of that letter. What atale many of those words reveal. When the infants of our former servantsdie, do our ladies write such letters about them? I should judge thatowning a fellow-creature softens and refines the heart, if this letteris any sign, instead of making them all barbarians. All the newspapersand novels in the world cannot do away the impressions which thatletter has made on my mind. I tell you, husband, having slaves is notthe unmitigated curse to owners nor to slaves that we have been taughtto believe. "

"Perhaps, " said I, interrupting her, "you would like to live at theSouth, and own a few. "

"I could not be hired by wealth, " said she, "to have them for help, evenhere. I never did like them; and when I think that there are good menand women who do, and who are as kind to the poor creatures as this dearlady, I think that we should give thanks to God. "

"Oh, the Southern people are not all like this good lady, by any means, "said I. 

"'Peradventure, '" said she, "'there be fifty righteous. ' There must betens of thousands. People like this lady are very apt to make good thesaying of the blackberry pickers when they see a blackberry, 'Wherethere's one there's more. ' The letter reads as though it were anevery-day thing, a matter of course, for this lady to be kind and lovingto the blacks; and for my part I bless any one who has anything to dofor her or for those like her. Our papers never tell us such stories asthis letter contains. No, they, do not love to hear them, I fear; but ifa slave is beaten or ill-treated, then the chimes begin, 'enormouswrong, ' 'stupendous injustice, ' 'sum of all villanies. '"

"Why, my dear, " said I, "you are getting to be pro-slavery very fast. "

"Never, " said she, "if you mean by that, as I suppose you do, approvingall that is involved in slavery and all that is committed under thesystem. "

"But, " said I, "your present feeling toward this Southern lady mayinsensibly lead you to believe that it is right to own afellow-creature. Does not Cowper say, --

 "'I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep And startle when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earned?'"

"How Kate must 'startle' and go into convulsions with terror every timethis mistress wakes!" she replied. "If Cowper had written in Alabama, instead of describing a state of slavery such as existed in the Britishpossessions, and not, as in the South, mixed up with his every-day life;if the first face with which he had become familiar as a babe had been ablack face, the face of his mother's 'slave' loving him, and nursinghim, and he, in turn, had tended his old 'Mammy' in her decrepitude, hisimagination would have contained some other pictures than those in thelines which you quote. Had there been a Mrs. Cowper, I fancy she wouldhave been like this lady; and perhaps we should have seen Mr. Cowperacting the kind part of this lady's husband toward a slave-mother andher babe, his 'property, ' so called. I lay awake here, last night, whileyou were writing, and thought it all over. What were you writing aboutso long? I wished that I had a pencil and paper near me. Those Englishand French people who got rid of slavery as one gets rid of a bunion, know nothing about slavery mingled with our very life-blood. Howself-righteous they are! Our people, too, are perpetually quoting whatThomas Jefferson said about slavery in his day. Pray, has there been noprogress? Why are we not permitted to hear what Southern men, as good asJefferson, now say about modern slavery?"

"My dear, " said I, "perhaps you are not fully qualified as yet to judgeof this great subject in all its relations. The greatest and wisest menare divided in opinion about it. "

"Great subject!" said she, "please let me interrupt you; there is butone side to it, I should judge, from reading our papers. What do some ofthe 'greatest and wisest men, ' on the other side, have to say forthemselves? Are they all 'friends of oppression, ' 'enemies of freedom, ''minions of the slave-power, ' 'dough-faces'? Husband, I am thoroughlydisgusted. I have been compelled to have uncharitable feelings towardthousands of people like this Southern lady; I confess I have reallyhated them, as I hate men-stealers and pirates. This letter hasconvinced me of my sin. It is like the Gospel in its effect upon me. "

"But, my dear, " said I, "recollect that good people may be in greaterror, and we read, 'Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and notsuffer sin upon him. ' Now, to hold a fellow-being in bondage, --how canit be otherwise than 'stupendous injustice'?"

"I wonder, " said she, "if Kate feels that she is in 'bondage' to thislady. I wonder if she would not think it cruel, if her mistress shouldset her free. "

"But it is wrong, " said I, "to hold property in a human being, whetherthe bondman be in favor of it or not. "

"'Property!'" said she. "I should like to be such 'property, ' if I werea black woman. If it were wrong in the abstract, " said she, "it mightnot be in practice. "

"Oh, " said I, "what a pro-slavery idea that is! where did you learn it?"

"I learned it, " said she, "at our corn-husking, when the Squire readextracts from John Quincy Adams's speech about China, in which he saidthat if China would not open her trade to the world, it would be rightto make war upon her. Now war is wrong, but circumstances sometimes makeit right. So with holding certain men in slavery, under certaincircumstances. I cannot believe that it is right to go and enslave whomwe will; but the blacks being here, I can see that it may be the verybest thing for all concerned that they should be owned. This may beGod's way of having them governed and educated. "

I found that I was getting deeper into the subject than I intended, and, besides, it was time to rise. As I left the room, she said, "You _will_change those papers, won't you? then we will have some more pleasanttalks about this subject. " She called to me from the door, "Please don'tsend back the lady's letter; I wish to copy it. " This is my reason fornot sending the letter with my reply to it. You will certainly give mecredit for candor in telling you all that my wife said. However, it isso easily answered that I need not fear to intrust you with it. 

Yours, for the slave, A. FREEMAN NORTH. 

P. S. After all, I concluded to retain this, and wait till my wife hadmade what use she desired of the letter, that I might be sure and returnit to you safely. In the mean time, I have changed the papers. Howirresistible a pleading woman is, especially a wife. Her very want oflogic makes her more so, when we are good-natured. She came upon me withjust such another supplication a few mornings since. As soon as sheawoke, she said, "Husband, do please have our parlor window-sashes letdown from the top. " "For ventilation?" said I. "Yes, " said she, "partly;" but I saw that she smiled. "What has made you think of it sosuddenly?" said I. "Do you not want to catch some more canaries?" saidshe. "I suspect, " said I, "that you would like to have ours escape. ""Perhaps, " said she, "that would be a relief to you from your presentembarrassment. " Then I saw that all this was banter. She wished to teazeme a little. The truth is, I have two fine singing canaries and amocking-bird. Some of my pro-slavery friends delight to pester me aboutthem. They say that they mean to issue a habeas corpus, and take thembefore Justice Bird, (who, you know, queerly enough, happens to beUnited States Commissioner, ) and inquire if they be not restrained oftheir freedom. I tell them that man has dominion over all the fowls ofthe air. But they say, "Then might makes right! Is it not a fine thingthat such a lover of liberty and friend of freedom and enemy ofoppression should keep those little prisoners for his selfishgratification. Come, be a practical emancipationist to the extent ofyour ability; set the South an example; break every yoke. " "They arebetter off with me, " said I; "the hawks or cats would catch them, orthey would die from exposure. " "Expediency!" said one of them; "dojustice, if the heavens fall. " "Fye at _justitia_!" said one, whopretended to take my part. "_Ruat coelum_, Let them rush to heaven, "replied the other. "Parse _coelum_, please, sir, " said my boy in theAcademy. "Yes, past the ceiling, " said the lawyer, pretending tomisunderstand him; "that's right, my son;"--and more wretched punning ofthe same sort. Hence Mrs. North's pretended supplication about thewindow-sashes. She has been in excellent spirits ever since I stoppedthe papers. She says that she wonders at herself so calm and happy. Iheard her yesterday calling at the stairs to a little lisping Englishwaiting-maid, who cannot pronounce _s_: "Judith, " said she, "did you nothear the parlor-bell?" Judith walked up, and said, "Mitthith North, lately you've rung tho eathy, that motht of the time I thought it muthtbe a acthident, and didn't come up at futht. I thpect the wireth ith gotruthty. " Mrs. North said nothing, but afterward, in relating the affairto me, she said she truly believed that it was owing to my stopping thepapers. For she could remember how often she went to the bell-ropesaying to herself as she pulled it, "sum of all villanies!" then"enormous wrong, " with another pull, and then "stupendous injustice, "with another. Several times she says Judith has rushed up to the parlorwith "Ma'am, whath the matter! the bell rung three timth right off. " Shethinks that her nervous system will last longer without the papers thanwith them. As she told me this, she was shutting down the lid of thepiano for the night. As it fell into its place, the strings set up abeautiful murmur. "Oh, hear that!" said she; "how solemn it is!" "Isuppose, " said I, "you would not have heard it, if those papers had beenin the house. " I shall not tell you, a bachelor, what she said and did. I trust that her views on the great subject of freedom will get adjustedby and by; and I am debating with myself what papers to take, havingbeen obliged, for my own edification, to become a subscriber to thereading-room. There, however, I meet with a good many pro-slaveryprints, and I am tempted to look into them; after which I frequentlyfeel as though I should pull a bell-rope three times. A. F. N. 

CHAPTER III. 

MORBID NORTHERN CONSCIENCE. 

 "Heaven pities ignorance: She's still the first that has her pardon sign'd; All sins else see their faults; she's, only, blind. "

 MIDDLETON: _No Help like a Woman's. _

[Accompanying note, from A. BETTERDAY CUMMING to A. FREEMAN NORTH. 

MY DEAR MR. NORTH, --

With many thanks for your kindness and frankness, and with my warmestcongratulations to Mrs. North for the pleasant effect which the Southernlady's letter has had upon her, I send you another document, hoping thatshe will read it to you. It will not be worth while for me to sayanything about this production. It purports to be from a young man inone of our New England literary institutions, whose aunt, with herhusband, was residing at the South for the health of a niece, a sisterto this young man;--they being orphans. The letter is so entirely in thesame key with your feelings that you cannot fail to be interested. Knowing that you love rare specimens in everything, I send you this as"the only one of its kind, " or as we say, "_sui generis_. "--A. B. C. ]

---- College, ---- -- ----. 

MY DEAR AUNT, --

I have not heard from you but once since your arrival at the South. Itis because sister is more unwell? or because you are very busy withyour arrangements for the winter? or is it because, as I more than halfsuspect, you are so much overcome by your first observation andexperience of slavery, that you have but little strength left to writeto me from that "---- post of observation, darker every hour"? Perhapsyou are mustering courage to tell me of the sights which you have seen, the little while that you have been among the poor, enslaved children ofthe sun in our Southern house of bondage. "Afraid to ask, yet muchconcerned to know, " I wait impatiently for a letter from you. I expectto make great use of its details among my fellow-students, many of whom, I mourn to say, have their hearts case-hardened against the story ofoppression. They will show an interest in everybody and everythingsooner than in the slave and his wrongs. They are not only callous onthat subject, but they laugh at your zeal and call it hard names. 

No one can tell what I suffer in the cause of freedom, through mywell-meant endeavors to interest and instruct others on the subjectwhich absorbs my thoughts. I know that I shall have your sympathy; andwhen I come to hear from you what your own eyes have seen, ere this, inslavery, I shall esteem all my sufferings in the cause of the slave aslight as air. 

I employ the intervals of study in walking among the beautiful sceneryof the village and its environs, if haply I may meet with some to whom Imay open my mind on this great theme. The last time that I went out forthis purpose, I met with a sad sight. A horse was running away with abuggy, while between the body of the carriage and the wheel I sawdepending a foot, which I at once inferred was that of a lady. The horserushed by, and sure enough, a young lady had fallen on the floor of thebuggy, holding the reins, evidently entangled and embarrassed in herposture, uttering the most heart-rending cries and shrieks, withintermingled calls to the horse to stop. 

I could not help looking at the horse, as he passed, with feelings ofstrong displeasure. To think that anything having an ear to hear and asensibility to feel should be so heedless of the cries of distress, roused up my soul to indignation. As I reflected, however, it occurredto me that no doubt this horse had been subjected to unkind treatmentfrom his youth up. I began to blame his owners. Had the law of kindnessbeen observed in the early management of this horse, doubtless he wouldhave regarded the first appeal of this young lady to him. May we nothope, dear Aunt, that a new era is dawning upon us with regard to theuniversal triumph of love and kindness over oppression of every kind, and that the brute creation will partake of its benign influences? Thetone and manner in which horses are spoken to often sends a chill to myheart. 

This reminds me, if you will excuse longer delay in my narrative, ofsome unfavorable impressions which I received lately on my way toBoston, with regard to the imperious manner in which a traveller isassailed by advertisements on the fences, as you pass through theenvirons of the city. Every few miles, as the cars passed along, I saw, printed on the rough boards of a fence: "Visit" so and so; "Use" so andso; "Try" so and so. I would not be willing to say how often myattention was caught by those mandatory advertisements. At last I becameconscious of some feeling of resistance. Whether it was that I began tobreathe the air of Bunker Hill, and the atmosphere which nourishes ourmost eminent friends of freedom, so many of whom, you know, live inBoston and vicinity, I cannot tell; but I found myself saying, withquite enough resentment and emphasis, "I will not 'use' so and so; Iwill not 'try' so and so; especially, I will not 'visit' so andso, --First, It will not be convenient. Secondly, I have no occasion todo so. Thirdly, I do not know the way; but, Finally, I do not like to beaddressed in this manner, as an overseer of a Southern plantationaddresses a slave. I am not a slave. I am a Massachusetts freeman. " Thisway of speaking to people, dear Aunty, must be discountenanced. It will, by and by, beget an aptitude for servile obedience; the eye and earbecoming accustomed to the forms of domination, we shall have yokes andchains upon us before we are aware. Some one says, "Let me write thesongs for a nation, and I care not who makes her laws. " So say I, Let mewrite imperative advertisements on fences and buildings, and allresistance to Southern encroachments and usurpation will soon be invain. 

But to resume my narrative. I began to look round, as soon as myexcitement about the runaway horse would allow, for some one to whom Icould open my overburdened mind on the subject of freedom. I espied aman with an immense load of chairs, from a factory in our neighborhood, as I supposed, on his way to Boston. Four horses drew the load, which Isaw was very heavy; not so heavy, I thought with myself, as that whichfour millions of my fellow-men are this moment laboring with, over thegloomy hills of darkness in our Southern States. I felt impelled toaddress the driver on this great theme. So, before he had reached thetop of the hill, I called out, --

"Driver!"

Perhaps there was more suddenness and zeal in my call than wasjudicious, but the driver immediately said "Whoa!" to his horses, and heran hither and thither for stones to block the wheels to keep his loadfrom running back, down hill. 

I felt encouraged, by this, to think that he was of a kind and pliabledisposition; and seeing the wheels fortified, and the horses at rest, Ifelt more disposed to hold conversation with the man. "Who knows, " Isaid to myself, "but that I may now make one new friend for the slave?"

"A warm day, " said I. 

"Yes, sir, " said he, a little impatiently, I thought, The sun was veryhot, an August morning, no air stirring, well suited to make one thinkof toil and woe under our Southern skies. 

"Have you ever been at the South?" said I, wiping my forehead. 

"No, sir, " said he, picking out a knot in the snapper of his whip, evidently to hide his embarrassment while waiting to know the drift ofmy question. The sight of his whip kindled in my soul new zeal for thepoor slaves, knowing as I did how many of them were at that momentskipping in their tortures and striving to flee from the piercing lash. 

"Your toil in the hot sun with your load, my dear sir, " said I, "is wellfitted to impress you with the thought of the miseries under which fourmillions of your fellow-men are every day groaning in our Southerncountry. I make no doubt that you are grateful for the blessings offreedom which we enjoy here at the North. I wish to ask whether you aredoing anything against oppression; whether you belong to any Associationwhose object is"--

"What on airth did you stop me for, " said he, quite impatiently, andyet with a lingering gleam of respect, and with some hesitancy at anyfurther rudeness of speech. 

"My dear sir, " said I, "four millions of Southern slaves are this veryhour groaning under sorrows which no tongue"--

"You"--(he hesitated a moment, and surveyed me from head to foot, andthen broke out, )--"putty-headed, white-birch-looking, nateral--stoppin'a load right near the crown of a hill, no gully in the road, such a dayas this, and--'Ged ehp, '"--said he to his horses, as the stones underthe wheels that moment began to give way; and then he drew his lashthrough one hand, with a most angry look. I really thought that I shouldhave to feel that lash. The thought instantly nerved me:--I'll bear it!it's for the slave; let me remember them, I might have added, that arewhipped as whipped with them; but at that moment the horses had reachedthe hill-top, and the driver was by their side. 

He called back, as he passed round the rear of his load to the nigh sideof his team. I caught only a few of his last words;--"take your backbonefor a for'ard X. " I snapped my thumb and finger at him, though notlifting my arm from my side. The human spinal column, with its vertebræ, for an axle-tree of a wagon! And yet, I immediately thought, the poornegro's back is truly "the for'ard X" of the great wagon of our Americancommerce. But I let him depart. 

Salutary impressions, I cannot question, dear Aunty, were made upon hismind. He had heard some things which would occupy his thoughts in hissolitary trudge on his way to Boston. That thought comforted me as I waswrithing a little on my way home, under his opprobrious epithets; foryou know that I was always sensitive when addressed with reproachfulwords. 

I could not help recalling and analyzing his scalding words of contempt. I took a certain pleasure in doing so, because, as I saw and felt thepower of each in succession, I remembered what awful abuses flow fromthe tongues of Southern masters and mistresses continually, as they goadon their slaves to their work, or reproach them for not bringing in thebrick for which they had given them no straw. So it was comparatively alight affliction for me to remember that I had been called by such hardnames. "Putty-headed!" said he. I infer, dear Aunty, that he must haveworked in the painter's department, and had been familiar with putty;hence he drew the epithet, into whose signification I did not care toinquire. "White-birch-looking!" I suppose he referred to the impressionof imbecility which we have in seeing a perfectly white tree in thewoods among the deep green of the sturdier trees. He may have referredto the effect of sedentary habits on my complexion. However, I soonforgot the particulars of his insulting address, retaining only theimpression that I had suffered, and that willingly, in the bleedingcause of freedom. 

It was a great relief to me that, just at that moment, a very fine dogapproached me and fawned upon me, then ran ahead, and seemed afraid thatI should send him back. After a while I tried to drive him away, but heinsisted on following me, and I have no doubt that I might have securedhim, had I wished to do so. I was not a little inclined, at one time, totake him home with me, and to keep him as a companion in my walks. Buthe had a collar with his own name, Bruno, upon it, and the name of hisowner. The question of right occurred to me. I debated it. Applying someof the self-evident truths established by our own Independence, I almostpersuaded myself that I might rightfully take the dog. I reasoned thus:1. All dogs are born free and equal. 2. They have an inalienable rightto life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 3. All governmentsderive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Theseprinciples, breathed in, from childhood, with the atmosphere of ourglorious "Fourth, " I did not hesitate to apply in the case of the dog. Ido not know what practical conclusion I might have arrived at, butsuddenly I lost sight of Bruno in consequence of a new adventure, in theprocess of which he disappeared. 

A matronly looking lady came suddenly out of a gate, with a cup in onehand containing a teaspoon, and a brown earthen mug in the other hand. She pushed the gate open before her, easily; but I saw that she wasembarrassed about shutting it. I stepped forward and assisted her. 

"Some kind office for the sick, I dare say, " said I. 

"A woman in that plastered house is very sick, " said she; "I have justfixed some marsh-mallow for her, to see if it will ease her cough. Sorryto trouble you, sir, but my cup was so full that I could not use myhands. "

"I suppose, " said I, "madam, if you will allow me to detain you amoment, "--

"I am afraid my drink in the cup will get cold, sir, but"--

"Only a moment, madam, " said I; (for I did not feel at liberty to walkwith her;) "only a moment; I am led to think, by your kindness to thispoor woman, of the millions of bond-people in our Southern country whonever feel the hand of love ministering to their sick and dying"--

"O you ignorant thing!" said she, pouring the contents of the cup intothe mug, and then setting the cup on the mug, all without looking at me;"where were you born and bred? You must be an abolitionist. Southernladies are the very best of nurses; and as to their slaves when they aresick, --why their hearts are overflowing--why!" said she, "I could tellyou tales that would make you cry like a baby--the idea! millions ofslaves sick and neglected! Do you belong to ---- College?"

"Yes, madam, " said I. 

"Sophomore?" said she. 

"Yes, madam. " But it was a cutting question. She had an arch look as sheasked it. 

"Well sir, " said she, with a graceful air, in a half averted direction, "you have some things to learn about your fellow-countrymen which arenot put down in your Moral Philosophies. Please do not betray yourignorance on subjects about which you are evidently in midnightdarkness. " She was some ways from me, but I heard her continue: "Wasthere ever anything like this Northern ignorance and prejudice about theSouthern people!"

I had nothing to do but resume my lonely walk. My sense of desolatenessno tongue can tell. I whistled for Bruno, but in vain. She called me "anignorant thing, " said I. Ignorant on the subject of slavery! How easy itis to misjudge! Have I steadied free-soil papers all these years only tobe called "an ignorant thing!" I could graduate to-day from thisinstitution, though only in my second year, if the examination wereconfined to the subject of slavery. I have thoroughly understood thetheory; I have learned by heart the codes of the iniquitous system. Iknow it root and branch, from pith to bark. All the lecturers on thesubject have not labored in vain, nor spent their strength for nought, with me. And now to be called "ignorant!" Just as though I could notreason, that is, draw inferences from premises, make deductions fromfacts. There is the great fact of slavery; it is "the sum of allvillanies;" men holding their fellow-men in bondage for the sake ofgain; the heart naturally covetous, oppressive, and cruel, where poweris unlimited. As though the law of kindness could, in suchcircumstances, possibly prevail and mitigate the sorrows of the bondman!The direct influence of slavery is to debase, to make barbarous, topetrify; I know as well as though I saw it that the South must be fullof neglected, perishing objects, cast out to perish in their sicknesses. You doubtless are acquainted, dear Aunty, with the great change in themode of reasoning introduced by Lord Bacon. We reason now from facts toconclusion; this is called the inductive method, to collect facts, thendraw inferences. The facts which I have collected on the subject ofslavery, in my reading and hearing, lead me to a perfect theory on thesubject, and my confidence in that theory is all which it could be if, like you, I were now seeing it verified with my own eyes. 

I reason on this subject of slavery, just as our philosophers reasonabout the moon. You have learned, dear Aunt, ere this, that there is nowater in the moon. Certain things are observed by our telescopes, in themoon, from which we are sure that there is no water there. Now there arecertain given facts in slavery. Slavery is Barbarism. It consists inholding men to compulsory servitude. The human heart is avaricious; itgets all it can, and keeps all it gets. Give it complete power over ahuman being, and there are no limits to its cupidity and wrong-doing, but the finite nature of the thing itself. Hence, does it not followthat there can be no disinterestedness, no tender mercies in slavery?Yes, dear Aunt, as we are perfectly sure that there can be no water inthe moon, so are we sure, by the same unerring rule of reasoningaccording to the inductive philosophy, that there is not one drop ofwater in slavery for the parched lips of a dying slave. I stated this toa member of our Junior Class who is a wonderful metaphysician. He waskind enough to say that he could discover no flaw in the logic. Yourletter, which, I trust, is now on its way to me, I know will fullyconfirm my theory and conclusion. 

This lady had probably been reading some miserable cant about Southernhumanity, for there are people everywhere who take the wrong side ofevery subject, from sheer obstinacy. What can disprove the laws of humannature? They require that things should be at the South as our theorieslay them down. 

In our Institution I mourn to say there is much opposition to theprinciples of freedom. Not only so, but the students, many of them, mockat us who stand up against oppression. 

You may not be aware, dear Aunty, that I have a habit, in walking, ofkeeping my hands firmly clenched, and my thumbs laid flat and presseddown over the knuckles of my forefingers. This, I am aware, gives thethumbs a flattened look. One of our principal pro-slavery studentsdelights to laugh at me to my face. Perhaps I am wrong in connectingeverything with this all-absorbing theme, but, truly, my thoughts allrun in that direction. Mother and you were accustomed to send me onerrands when I was little, and you placed your money in my right handand mother hers in my left, because, on my return to our house, yourroom was on the right hand of the entry. So I used to go along, holdingyour respective moneys in my palms, with my thumbs stopping theapertures. And now I am persecuted for the fidelity which led me toacquire a habit that cleaves to me to this day. But little did I dream, dear Aunty, when I padded along like a straight footed animal in thewater, instead of having the free use of my open palms to aid me inwalking, that I was acquiring a habit to be to me an inlet of torture inbehalf of our manacled four millions, whose hands feel the galling bondsof slavery. I take it joyfully, because it is all for the slave. 

The day that I came home from my two interviews and efforts justrelated, a pro-slavery student, a Senior, invited me into his room. Heis exceedingly kind and generous, though, I am sorry to say it, a friendof oppression. He gave me a splendid apple, the first which I had seenfor the season. He dusted my coat with his feather-duster, and he evendusted my boots. He asked me how far I had been walking. I told him allwhich I had said and done, thinking that it would profitably remind himof the great subject. He roared with laughter. "Three cheers forGustavus;" "isn't that rich;"--waving, all the while, thefeather-duster, and breaking out with fresh peals, as I related onething after another. The noise which he made brought in several of thestudents from neighboring rooms, and he related my stories to them asthey stood with their thumbs and fingers holding open their text-booksat the places where they were studying. They were a curious looking set, in their dressing-gowns, slippers, and smoking-caps; and the most ofthem, unfortunately, happened to be pro-slavery, and advocates ofoppression; by which I mean, not in favor of my mode of viewing andtreating the subject of slavery. One of them was so amused and excitedthat he lost all self-control. He threw down his book, caught me withhis two hands about the waist, and tickled me so that I fell upon thefloor. Then they raised a shout. We have cool nights here, sometimes, inthe warmest weather, and we keep, on the foot-boards of our beds, cottoncomforters, called _delusions_, because they are so downy and light. Twoof the students took the Senior's comforter and laid it on me; then fourof them sat down, one on each corner, to keep me underneath. I have toldyou that it was a sultry August day. I thought that I should smother. Itold them so, as well as my choked voice would allow; but one of themsaid, in a soft, meek tone, as I writhed in distress, "Hush, Gustavus, lie still; you are certainly laboring under a delusion. " This was allthe more painful from its being so cruelly true, in a literal sense, while I knew that they had reference to my views with regard to freedom, in the word "delusion. " What sustained me in those moments, dear Aunty?It was not that I had myself stood by when this trick was played onFreshmen, and encouraged it by my actions; no, a higher and holier powerthan conscience of wrong-doing wrought upon me in those moments. Oh, Ithought, the very cotton which fills this comforter, was cultivated bythe hand of a slave. And shall I complain at being nearly smothered byit, when I remember what an incubus slavery is to the poor creature whogathered this cotton, and what an incubus it is to our unhappy land? Iwas delivered at last from my load, because my tormentors were tired oftheir sport. Would that there were some prospect that they who loadcruel burdens on the slave were increasingly tired of their work!

They would not, however, let me rise. So, thought I, when we have takenthe burden of slavery off from the poor negro, unholy prejudice againstcolor keeps him from rising to a level with the rest of the community. Ibegged that I might get up. They told me that my morning exertionsrequired longer rest. I told them that I must get my Greek. Whereuponone of them stood over me, with his arms raised in a deploring attitude, and said, --

 "Sternitur infelix!-- --Et dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos. "

This, dear Aunty, is the lamentation of a Latin poet over a Greeksoldier lying prostrate on the battle-field, far from home;--"and dyinghe remembers his sweet Greece. " So they made game of me with the help ofthe Classics, giving poignancy to their jokes by polishing the tips withclassical allusions. While I was under the "delusion, " they sungsnatches of Bruce's Address to his army; and when they came to the words

 "Who so base as be a slave?-- Let him turn and flee, "

one of them ran a cane under the delusion and punched me with it, keeping stroke to the music. This was little short of profaneness. Theyasked me if the chair-maker's harnesses were probably made by free orslave labor, alluding, unfeelingly, to a mistake which I made in arecitation one day, when two of those very students had kept me talkingabout slavery up to the very moment when the recitation-bell rang, sothat I had not looked at my lesson. There are men in my class, andthese were some of them, who, I am told, are plotting to prevent myhaving the first appointment, to which they know that my marks atrecitation entitle me. But may I never be so prejudiced against thosewho differ from me on the subject of slavery as to deny them credit forthings which they have fairly earned. I leave this to the avowed enemiesof human rights. For the cause of the slave, I must gain the firstappointment. 

I alluded, just now, to my feelings at witnessing tricks played on theFreshmen. Had the Sophomores asked my advice before they played thosetricks, I should have dissuaded them; but when they played them, withsuch courage and enterprise, I stood before them with admiration. Butwhile I was under that quilt, I found that I did not admire theSophomores at all, any more than I did the Seniors who then had me intheir power. 

The enemies of freedom, in College, had a great triumph the otherevening. One of them, in one of the Literary Societies, read an OriginalPoem, the title of which was, "The Fly-time of Freedom. " He spoke of"our glorious summer of Liberty" being infested and pestered with noisy, provoking things, which he characterized under the names of dor-bugs, millers, and all those creatures which fly into the room when the lampis lighted; the swarms of black gnats which are about your head in thewoods; horse-flies which stick, and leave blood running; anddevil's-darning-needles. One brave man here, a great "friend offreedom, " who, they falsely say, loves to be persecuted, and longs formartyrdom, and interprets everything that way, he described as a miller, who seems to court death in the flame. I think he aimed at me inspeaking of soft, harmless bugs which creep over your newspaper or book. Many faces were turned to me as he repeated these lines. I am sorry tosay the piece was much applauded. It has put back the cause ofemancipation in College, I fear, a term. 

The following introduction to another piece was written, and was read, at the same meeting, by a member of my own class. I fear that there is asly hit intended by the writer, which I do not discern, at somebody, orsomething, related to freedom. This I suspected from the applause itexcited on the part of those who I know are the most deadly foes we haveto free institutions. I obtained a copy of this introduction. It willserve, at least, to show you, dear Aunty, what a variety of topics wehave to excite our minds here in College. You can exercise yourdiscretion about letting uncle read it, as it is on a subject of somedelicacy. The writer says, --

"I am collecting facts from our daily papers illustrating the Barbarismof Matrimony. My list of wives poisoned, beaten, maimed for life bytheir husbands, and of divorces, cruel desertions, the effects on wivesof intemperance in husbands, is truly fearful. I make no question thatthere are some happy marriages. But a relation which affords suchpeculiar opportunities for cruelty to women, must sooner or laterdisappear. No doubt the time will come when marriage will be deemed arelic of barbarism, and a bridal veil be exhibited as one of the mockdecorations of the unhappy victims. Human nature in man is not goodenough to be trusted with such a responsibility as the happiness ofwoman. Let Bachelors of Arts, on our parchments, suggest to us our dutyto aid, through our example, as well as by words, in breaking thisdreadful yoke, bidding those innocent young women who are now, perhaps, fearfully looking at us as their future oppressors, to be forever free. In the language of young Hamlet: 'I say, we will have no moremarriages. '"

 * * * * *

Just before dark one evening, I was sitting in my room, meditating onthe great theme which absorbs my thoughts. My eye was caught by thebright bolt of my door-lock, the part of the bolt between the lock andthe catch showing, beyond question, that the door was fastened. Some oneon the outside had turned a key upon me. 

I had the self-possession to be quiet, for my mind had been calmed byreflecting, in that twilight hour, that now one more day of toil for thepoor slaves was over. 

But as I looked at the bolt, my attention was diverted by something nearthe top of the door, moving with a strange motion. It was black; itopened and shut. I drew toward it. I found that it was the leg of aturkey, the largest that I ever saw. It was held or fastened in theventilator over the door, while some one on the outside was evidentlypulling the tendons of the claw, making it open and shut. 

There it performed its tragi-comic gibes for several minutes. 

I resumed my seat, unterrified, of course, and proceeded to turn thespectre to good account. I addressed it, in a moderate tone; though Ithink that I used some gesticulation. Said I: Personation of theSlave-power! predatory, grasping, black! thinkest thou a pantingfugitive lies hid under my "delusion?" or wouldst thou seize a freeman?The Ægis of Massachusetts is over me. Gape! Yawn! Thou art powerless;but thy impudence is sublime. --Ten or fifteen voices then solemnlychanted these words:--

 "Emblem of Slavery Clutching the Free! We've digested the turkey That gobbled oil thee. Sure as THANKSGIVING hastened, Cock-turkey! thy hour, Thanksgivings shall blazon Thy downfall, Slave-power!

 "The Slave-power has talons, Like Nebuchadnezzar; Slaves are the Lord's flagons Our modern Belshazzar From the Temple of Nature Has stolen away. 'Mean!' 'Mean!' be writ o'er him! Wrath! canst thou de"--

Here screams of laughter, and a scampering in the entry, and theturkey's leg tumbling into my room, ended the trick and theircantillation. I was wishing to hear, in the next stanza, the idea thatas the tendons of the claw were worked by a foreign power, so slavery atthe South owes its activity to Northern influence. Perhaps it is due tomyself to say that the word scampering, a few lines above, has norevengeful reference, in its first syllable, to the author of the trick. The cause of humanity, I find, has a tendency to make one cautious andcharitable in his use of words. 

They have anti-slavery meetings in the village, now and then, which Iattend. All the talent of the place, and the truly good, are there. Oneevening, when the excitement rose high, a tall, awkward young manmounted the stage, and said that he wanted to offer one resolution as acap-sheaf. You will infer, dear Aunty, that he was an agriculturist. Helifted his paper high up in one hand, while his other hand was extendedin the other direction, and so was his foot under that hand. He lookedlike Boötes, on the map of the heavens, which we used to take with us, you know, in studying the comet. "Read it!" "Read it!" said the meeting. "I will, " said he, flinging himself almost round once, in hisexcitement, reminding me of a war-dance, and then taking his sublimeattitude again; when he read, --

"Resolved, Mr. Cheerman, fact is, that Abolition is everything, andnuthin' else is nuthin'. "

Some of the younger portion of the audience wished to raise a laugh, butthe reddening, angry faces of the prominent friends of the slave wereturned upon them instantly, and overawed them. 

All were silent for a moment, when the Chairman rose to speak. He was ashort man, with reddish hair, and his teeth were almost constantlyvisible, his lips not seeming to be an adequate covering for them. Hehad, moreover, a habit of snuffing up with his nose, --in doing which hisupper lip, what there was of it, played its part, and made him show histeeth by frequent spasms. Being a little bow-legged, he made an awkwardeffort in coming to the front of the stage; but we all love him, becausehe is such a vigorous friend of freedom, looking as though he wouldwillingly be executioner of all the oppressors in the land. He said thathe "utterly concurred" with the mover in the spirit of his resolution;it was not, to be sure, in the usual form of resolutions, but that couldeasily be fixed; and he would suggest that it be referred to theStanding Committee of the Freedom League. "I agree to that, " said thepro-slavery Senior who gave me that entertainment in his room, (but who, by the way, being a friend of oppression, had no right to speak in ameeting in behalf of freedom;) "I agree to that, " said he, "Mr. Chairman, and I move that the School-master be added to the Committee. "What a cruel laugh went through the meeting! while the mostdistinguished friends of the slave had hard work to control their faces. 

I could not help going to the mover of the resolution after the meeting;and, laying two fingers of my right hand on his arm, I said, "Don't beput down; he tried to reproach you for not being college-bred; he hadbetter get the slaves well educated before he laughs at a Massachusettsfreeman for not being a scholar. "--He tossed his black fur-skin caphalf-way to his head, and he wheeled round as he caught it, saying, "Don't care, liberty's better'n larnin', 'nuff sight. "--"Both are good, "said I, "my friend, and we must give them both to the slave. "--"Give 'emthe larnin' after y'u've sot 'em free!" said he; "I'll fight for 'em;don't want to hear nuthin' 'bout nuthin' else but liberty to them that'sbound. " He stooped and pulled a long whip and a tin pail from under theseat of the pew where he had been sitting, making considerable noise, sothat the people, as they passed out, turned, and the sight of him andhis accoutrements made great sport for some whose opinions and feelingswere the least to be regarded. I saw in him, dear Aunty, a fair specimenof native, inbred love of liberty and hatred of oppression, unsophisticated, to be relied on in our great contest with theslave-power. I have been told, since the meeting, that his Christianname is Isaiah. 

The meeting that evening appointed me a delegate to an Anti-slaveryConvention which is to be held before long. I am expected to representthe College on the great arena of freedom. They have done me too muchhonor. Since my appointment, the students have sent me, anonymously, through the post-office, resolutions to be presented by me at theConvention. I have copied them into a book as they came in, and I willtranscribe them for you and send them herewith. The spirit of libertyis, on the whole, certainly rising among the students. As the blood ofthe martyrs is the seed of the Church, I cannot but hope that my trialsin the cause of freedom have wrought good in the Institution. Some whosend in these resolutions privately, are, no doubt, secret friends, needing a little more courage to face the pro-slavery feeling andsentiment which are all about them. Some one who read these resolutionssuggested the idea of their being a burlesque. I repudiated the idea atonce. They will commend themselves to you, dear Aunty, I am sure, ashonest and truthful. 

The President called me to his room yesterday, and asked me about thetreatment which I received from those Seniors. While I was telling himof it, I noticed that he kept his handkerchief close to his face almostall the time. I thought at first that his nose bled, or that he had atoothache; but I afterward believed that he was weeping at the story ofmy wrongs. A Southerner, in the Junior Class, said he had no doubt thatthe President was laughing heartily all the time. None but a minion ofthe slave-power could have suggested this idea. The President felt somuch that he merely told me to return to my room. 

But I perceive, by the students with letters and papers in their hands, that the mail is in. I will add a postscript, if I find a letter fromyou; and I will send on the resolutions at once. Write soon, dear Aunty, to your loving nephew, and to

Yours for the slave, Gustavus. 

CHAPTER IV. 

RESOLUTIONS FOR A CONVENTION. 

 "Nay, and thou'lt mouth, I'll rant as well as thou. "--HAMLET. 

I. 

_Resolved_, That the continued practice of wild geese to visit the Southfor the winter, flying over free soil--Concord, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Faneuil Hall, --on their way to the land of despotism, cannot be tooloudly deplored by all the friends of freedom in the North; and that thelaws of nature are evidently imperfect in not yielding to the knownanti-slavery sentiments of this great Northern people so far as to makethe instincts of said geese conform to our most sacred antipathies anddetestations. 

II. 

_Resolved_, That the abolitionists of Maine, and of the BritishProvinces, resident near the summer haunts of said geese, be requestedto consider whether measures may not be adopted whereby anti-slaverytracts, and card-pictures illustrating the atrocious cruelties ofslavery, and appeals to the consciences of the South, or at leastinstructions to the colored people as to their right and duty to asserttheir liberty, may not be fastened to these birds of passage, to makethem apostles of liberty; so that while they continue to disregard thebleeding cause of humanity, their very cackle may be converted into laysof freedom. 

III. 

Whereas we read in the Revelation a description of the wall of heaven ashaving "on the South three gates, " a number equal to that assigned tothe North, _Resolved_, That this description being in total disregard of the greatmodern anti-slavery movement, the book which contains it cannot havebeen divinely inspired; and that a true anti-slavery Bible would haverepresented those pro-slavery gates as shut, with the inscription overthem: Enter from the North. 

IV. 

_Resolved_, That the great abolitionist who represents himself in hisspeeches as baptizing his dogs, in just ridicule of the baptism ofchattel slaves, is worthy, with his dogs, of a place in the heavensamong the constellations; and that anti-slavery astronomers be requestedto make a Southern constellation for them somewhere near the head of TheSerpent, as rivals to "_Canes Venatici_, " which pro-slavery astronomersno doubt designed, in blasphemous profanation of the heavens, torepresent their bloodhounds hunting fugitive slaves, placing it indisgusting proximity to our own Northern _Ursa Major_. And the friendsof the slave are hereby invited to make that new constellation theircynosure, vowing by it, and anti-slavery lovers arranging theirmatrimonial engagements, if possible, so as to plight their troth onlywhen it is in the ascendant. 

V. 

_Resolved_, That we shall hail it as a sign of progress and an omen forgood, when anti-slavery women, with the sensibility which belongs totheir sex, shall become so interpenetrated with the sentiments offreedom, that they can distinguish by the sense of taste the oystergrown in James River, Richmond, Virginia, and handled by the toil-wornslave, from that which grew on free soil. 

VI. 

_Resolved_, That our noble anti-slavery poets be requested to composesonnets addressed to the whippoorwill, appealing to that sorrowful-tunedbird by our associations with his name, and by his own historicrelationship to the victims of oppression, to desert the South and tofrequent our woods and pastures in greater numbers, that thesensibilities of our people may be continually touched by his notes andhis name, so suggestive of the monstrous lash which rules over one halfof this great nation. And the anti-slavery members of the Legislatureare hereby requested to seek legislative enactments whereby thewhippoorwill may be further domiciliated at the North, and be providedwith protection during the winter season. 

VII. 

_Resolved_, That bobolinks, blue jays, orioles, martins, and swallows, who visit the rice-fields of the South, and live upon the unrequitedtoil of four millions of our fellow-men, should not, upon their return, be viewed with favor by the friends of equal rights at the North, butshould be destroyed by sportsmen as a sacrifice to outraged humanity. And no true anti-slavery taxidermist will, in our judgment, be foundwilling to stuff the skin of one of those mean and traitorous birds forany public or private ornithological show-case. 

VIII. 

_Resolved_, That one subject of great interest, well suited to occupythe attention of Massachusetts freemen and friends of liberty thecurrent year, is this: Whether the great whips in Dock Square, Boston, which stand professedly as signs before the doors of whip-makers' shops, but are in the very sight of Faneuil Hall, shall be allowed to remainwithin that sacred precinct of liberty; and that we tender our thanks tothose who are investigating the question whether the whips were notoriginally placed, and are not now maintained, there by the slave-power, in mockery of our Northern hatred of oppression. 

IX. 

_Resolved_, That, if it be true that the steel pen which signed the billfor the removal of a Judge of Probate for doing an accursed duty as U. S. Commissioner, was taken from the Council Chamber and is now in thepossession of one who has driven it into the edge of his chamber-doorcasement, and every night hangs his watch upon it, at the head of hisbed, with the infatuated notion that thereby, through some "most finespirit of sense, " the tick of a death-watch will disturb the politicaldreams of our Massachusetts rulers, we hereby declare that this is mostchimerical and visionary, and that the great party of freedom inMassachusetts need not feel the slightest apprehension that our rulershave the least misgivings as to the morality of their conduct in theremoval of said officer, nor that they fear political retribution forthat deed; nor do we believe that the death-watch will ever tick in theear of freedom in Massachusetts. 

X. 

_Resolved_, That in the acquiescence of many at the North in the entirejustice of a universal massacre, by the slaves, of their masters, including women and children, we recognize a state of preparedness forthe proscription and banishment of all who do not come up to the highabolition standard; but that in carrying out that project, we oughtfirst to seek the reclamation of the victims, and therefore that dueinquiry ought to be made concerning the most effective modes ofpersuasion, as, for example, thumb-screws, racks, wheels, scorpions, water-dropping for the head, bags of snakes, tweezers, and steel-pointedbeds, it being apparent that our agony for the slave cannot be satisfiedexcept by his liberation, or by the forcible subjection to us of all whooppose it. And we do hereby request all the friends of freedom nowtravelling in despotic countries to make inquiry as to the most approvedmethods of persuading the mind by appeals to it through thesensibilities of the flesh, and to be prepared with this informationagainst the time when the sublime march of abolition philanthropy shallarrive at the limits of forbearance with all the Northern advocates ofoppression. 

XI. 

Whereas no one who holds slaves can be a Christian; and whereas Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were slave-holders, Abraham himself having owned moreslaves than any Southerner; and whereas a synonyme of heaven, in the NewTestament, is "Abraham's bosom;" and whereas no true friend of freedomcan consistently have Christian communion with slave-holders, _Resolved_, That we look with deep interest to the introduction among usof the principles of the Hindoo philosophy and religion (including thetransmigration of souls), through tentative articles in our magazines;by which there is opening to us a way of escape from that heaven oneexponent of which is, to lie in the bosom of a slave-holder. 

XII. 

And in conclusion, _Be it Resolved_, That Bunker Hill was since Mount Sinai, that FaneuilHall is far in advance of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness; and that ouranti-slavery literature is immeasurably beyond epistles to Philemon andother inspired pro-slavery tracts. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE GOOD NORTHERN LADY'S LETTER FROM THE SOUTH. 

 "No haughty gesture marks his gait, No pompous tone his word; No studied attitude is seen, No palling nonsense heard; He'll suit his bearing to the hour, Laugh, listen, learn, or teach. With joyous freedom in his mirth, And candor in his speech. "--ELIZA COOK. 

[My friend, A. Freeman North, having read the foregoing, returned itwith a hasty note, in pencil, saying, "Please send me the Aunt's reply, if you have it, or can procure it. " I accordingly sent it, and we haveit here. ]

MY DEAR NEPHEW, --

Your letter came while we had gone into the country for a fortnight. Hattie is much improved, and I trust will soon be well. I gave her yourletter to read. She told me that she could not find it in her heart towonder at you for it; for once she should probably have written verymuch in the same strain. 

It was Easter Monday afternoon when our steamboat reached the wharf. Wetook an open carriage and drove toward the hotel. As we reached thecentre of the city, the place seemed to be full of colored people, whoevidently had just come out of their meeting-houses. This was our firstview of the blacks. Our driver had to stop frequently while they werecrossing the streets, and we had full opportunity to enjoy the sight. Hattie exclaimed, after looking at them a few moments, --

"Why, Uncle, they are human beings!"

"What did you suppose they were?" said he. 

"Uncle, " said she, "these cannot be slaves. Where do you suppose theyokes are?"

"Now, Hattie, " said he, "you were not so simple as to suppose that theywore yokes, like wild cows and swine. "

"Why, " said she, "our papers are always telling about their being'reduced to a level with brutes, ' and every Sabbath since I was a child, it seems to me, I have heard the prayer, 'Break every yoke!' Last Sabbathour minister, you remember, said, 'Abraham was a slave-holder, David amurderer, and Peter lied and swore. ' Why, Uncle, these black people looklike gentlemen and ladies! If slave-holders are like murderers andthieves, these cannot be their slaves!"

"Ask that elderly gentleman, " said your Uncle. He was stopping for ourcarriage to pass, --a portly man, with a ruffled shirt, and arich-looking cane, the end of which he kept on the ground, holding thetop of it at some distance from him. 

"Please, sir, will you tell me if these are the slaves?" said Hattie. 

He looked round, while he kept his arm and the top of his canedescribing large arcs of a circle. 

"They are our colored people, Miss, " said he, exchanging a smile withyour Uncle and me. 

"Well, sir, " said Hattie, more earnestly than before, "are theyslaves?"

He politely nodded assent, but was apparently interested by somethingwhich caught his eye. He then took out a snuff-box, and, looking roundabout him while opening it, said, --

"Some of them dress too much, Miss, --too much, altogether. "

"Kid gloves of all colors, " said Hattie, soliloquizing. "Red moroccoBibles and hymn-books. What a white cloud of a turban! Part of thechoir, I take it, --those, with their singing-books. Elegant spruce youngfellow, isn't he, Aunt? with the violoncello. Venerable old couple, there! over eighty, both of them. Well, " continued Hattie, "I will giveup, if these are the slaves. "

"Don't make up your mind too suddenly, " said your Uncle; "you will seeother things. "

"Uncle, " said she, "what I have seen here in fifteen minutes shows methat at least one half of that which I have learned at the North aboutthe slaves is false. Our novels and newspapers are all the timemisleading us. "

"And yet, " said your Uncle, "perhaps everything they say may be true byitself; it may have happened. "

"Why, Aunt, " said she, "such a load is gone from my mind since lookingupon these colored people that I feel almost well. Why, there's awedding!" said she. "Driver, do stop! Uncle, please let us go in. "

They left me, and went into a meeting-house, where a black bridegroom, in a blue broadcloth suit, white waistcoat, kid gloves, patent-leathershoes, and white hose, and an ebony bride, in white muslin caught upwith jessamines, and a myrtle wreath on her head, had gone in, followedby a train of colored people. The white people, invited guests, itseems, were already assembled. The sexton told your Uncle that theparties were servants, each to a respectable family. This was a newpicture to Hattie. She said that in looking back to the steamboat, anhour ago, the revelations made to her by what she had seen and heard, inthat short time, all new, all surprising and delightful, afforded hersome idea of the sensations of a soul after it has been one hour withinthe veil. We sat in the carriage, and saw the procession pass out, whenthe choir, who had been in the church before the wedding, practisingtunes, resumed their singing. 

"Now the idea, " said Hattie, after we had listened awhile, "that theycan forget that they are slaves long enough to meet and practisepsalm-tunes!"

"You evidently think, " said your Uncle, "that they would not sing theLord's songs, if this were to them a strange land. "

"They certainly have not hung their harps upon the willows by theserivers of Babylon, " said Hattie. 

"Why, some of our people at the North are to-day writhing in anguish, because of these slaves, and are imprecating God's vengeance, andpraying that the slaves may get their liberty, even by violence, whilethe slaves themselves are practising psalm-tunes!"--

"And getting married, " said your Uncle. 

"Yes, Sir, " said Hattie, "and this week our ---- paper will come to usfrom New York loaded with articles about 'bondage' and 'sum of allvillanies, ' and 'poor, toil-worn slaves. ' Toil-worn! I never saw such alively set of people. Do see that little mite of a round black child, inblack jacket and pants; he looks like a drop of ink; Oh, isn't hecunning! Little boy! what is your"--

"Come, come!" said your Uncle, "you are getting too much excited; youwill pay for all this to-morrow with one of your headaches. "

But a new surprise awaited us. The driver stopped opposite a large, plain-looking building, and told us that we had better step in. Onentering, we involuntarily started back, for I never saw a house moredensely filled; and all were blacks. It was a sable cloud; but the sunwas in it. The choir were singing a select piece. The principal_soprano_, an elegant-looking black girl, dressed in perfect taste, heldher book from her in her very small hand covered with a straw-coloredglove. The singing was charming. We asked a white-headed negro in thevestibule what was going on. 

"Why, it is Easter Monday, Missis. "

"Is this an Episcopal church?"

"No; Baptist. "

"What are all these people here for?" said your Uncle. 

"Why, to worship, Sir, I hope. It's holiday. "

"Do they go to church, holidays?"

"Why, " said he, with a smile and bow, "some of the best of 'em, p'raps. "

We returned to the carriage. 

"Think, " said your uncle, "of two thousand people at the North spendinga part of 'Artillery Election Day' in Boston, for example, in going tochurch!"

"Well, " said Hattie, "if I were not to live another day, I would blessGod for having let me live to see these things. I am so glad to findpeople happy who I had supposed were weeping and wailing. "

We admonished her that she had not seen the whole of slavery. 

A very interesting coincidence happened to us the next day. We took teaat Rev. Mr. ----'s. A splendid bride-cake adorned the table. As Hattiewas admiring the ornaments on the cake, the lady of the clergyman smiledand said, --

"This is from a colored wedding. "

Sure enough, that black bride whom we saw the day before had sent herminister's wife this loaf. Said Miss ----, "I was hurrying to get a silkdress made last week, but my dressmaker put me off, because she wasworking for Phillis B. 's wedding. "

We both gave a glance at Hattie. She sat gazing at Miss ----, her lipspartly open, her eyes moistened, --a picture in which delight andincredulity were in pleasant strife. 

 * * * * *

We have been in the interior a fortnight. One thing filled me withastonishment, soon after I came here, namely, to find widow ladies andtheir daughters, all through the interior of Southern States, livingremote from other habitations, surrounded by twenty, fifty, or a hundredslaves. Hattie and I spent a week with a widow lady, whose head slavewas her overseer. There was not a white man within a mile of the house. More than twenty black men, slaves, were in the negro quarter. I awokethe first night, and said to Hattie, --

"Do you know that you are 'sleeping on a volcano'?"

"What do you mean, Aunt? You frighten me. "

"Well, it will not make an eruption to-night, " said I. "We will examineinto it to-morrow. "

At breakfast I asked the lady how she dared to live so. I told her thatwe at the North generally fancied Southern people sleeping on theirarms, expecting any night to be murdered by their slaves. 

"It ought to be so, ought it not?" said she, "according to your Northerntheory of slavery; and it may get to be so, if your people persist insome of their ways. My only fear is of some white men who live about twomiles off. I keep two of my men-servants in the house at night as aprotection against white depredators. "

"But, " said Hattie, "there have been insurrections. Are you not afraidthat your slaves will rise and assert their liberty?"

The lady smiled and was evidently hesitating whether to answer seriouslyor not, when Hattie continued, --

"Aunt! now I see what you meant by our sleeping on a volcano. "

"Yes, " said I, "we at the North often speak of you Southerners assleeping on a volcano. Our idea is that the blacks here are prisoners, stealing about in a sulky mood, vengeance brooding in their hearts, andthat they wait for their time of deliverance, as prisoners in ourstate-prison watch their chance to escape. "

"Well, " said she, "believe I am the only slave on the premises. I amsure that no one but myself is watching for a chance to escape. I wouldrun away from these people if I could. But what shall I do with them? Iam not willing to sell them, for when I have hinted at leaving, there issuch entreaty for me to remain, and such demonstrations of affection andattachment, that I give it up. 

"Here, " said she, "are seven house-servants, large and small, to do workwhich at the North a man and two capable girls would easily do. I haveto devise ways to subdivide work and give each a share. My husbandcarried it so far that he had one boy to black boots and another shoes, and these two 'bureaus' were kept separate. "

"Oh, " said I, "what a curse slavery is to you!"

"As to that, " said she, "it is the negroes who are a curse, not theirslavery. So long as they are on the same soil with us, the subordinationwhich slavery establishes makes it the least of two evils. If there isany curse in the case, it is the blacks themselves, not their slavery. Were it not for their enslavement to us, we should hate them and drivethem away, like Indiana and Illinois and Oregon and Kansas. Now wecherish them, and their interests are ours. 

"Two distinct races, " said she, "never have been able to live togetherunless one was subordinate and dependent. This, you know, all historyteaches. Your fanatics say it should not be so; they talk about liberty, equality, and fraternity, and put guns and pikes into the hands of theinferior race, here, to help them 'rise in the scale of being, ' as theyterm it. What God means to accomplish in this matter of slavery I do notsee. 

"Suppose, merely for illustration, " said she, "that cotton should besuperseded. Vast numbers of our slaves might then be useless here. Whatwould become of them? We should implore the North to relieve us of them, in part. Then would rise up the Northern antipathy to the negro, stronger, probably, in the abolitionist than in the pro-slavery man; andas we sought to remove the negroes northward and westward, the FreeStates would invoke the Supreme Court, and the Dred Scott decision, andthen we should see, with a witness, whether the black man has 'anyrights' on free soil 'which the' original settlers 'are bound torespect. ' Think of bleeding Kansas, even, refusing to incorporatenegro-suffrage in her constitution, when left free to follow thedictates of common sense, and a wise self-interest. I sometimes thinkthat that one thing, as a philosophical fact, is worth all the troublewhich Kansas has cost. It cannot be 'unholy prejudice against color. ' Itis human nature asserting the laws which God has established in it. 

"I never, " said she, "find abolitionists quoting the whole of the versewhich says: 'and hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth. '"

"What, " said I, "do they leave out?"

"'And hath fixed the bounds of their habitations, ' are some of the nextwords, " said she. 

But you will tire of this. I will resume my story. I will only say thatI told the lady that some of my gentleman friends would call her astrong-minded woman. 

 * * * * *

Your letter made me think of something which happened to a lady, afellow-traveller of ours, a few weeks, ago. She came here to visit alady whose husband owns one hundred and fifty slaves. The morning aftershe reached the plantation, as she told me, she was awaked by thecracking of whips. She listened; human voices, raised above the ordinarypitch, were mingling with the sounds. She lay till she could endure itno longer. Coming down to the piazza, she saw a white man mending aharness on a horse. "Those whips, " said she, inquiringly, --"they haverather interfered with my peace. Any of the colored people been doingwrong?" He hesitated, and kept on fixing his harness, till, finally, heturned round, --for he had been standing with his back to her and, as shesupposed, to hide his chagrin at being questioned on so trying asubject. "Truth is, Madam, " said he, taking a large piece of tobacco anda knife from his pocket, and helping himself slowly, --"truth is, we haveso much of this work to do, we have to begin early. Sorry it disturbedyou;" and he gathered up the reins and drove off. 

The whips kept up their racket. "Here, " said she to herself, "is thehouse of Bondage. How can I spend a month here?" She thought that shewould peep round the house. Yet she feared that she should be consideredas intruding into things which she had better not meddle with. But thescreams became so fearful that she could no longer restrain herself. Sherushed round the corner of the house, and came full against a blackwoman rinsing some fustian clothes in a tub near the rain-spout. "Dodear tell me, " said she, "what they are doing to those people. Who iswhipping them? What have they done?" The black woman stopped, and lookedround without taking her hands from her tub, and then said, as she wenton rinsing, "Lorfull help you, Missis, dem's de young uns scaring debirds out of de grain. "

What bliss there was to her in that moment of relief! Six or eightlittle negroes were sauntering about at their morning work, each havinga rude whip, with tape for a snapper, interrupting the hungry birds attheir breakfast. 

I expected to see a wretched, down-trodden, alms-house looking set ofcreatures; for the word _slave_, and all the changes which are rung onthat word, made me think only of people who are convicts, such as yousee in the state-prison yard at Charlestown, Mass. I never expected thatthey would look me in the face, but would skulk by me as a spy or enemy. A Christian heart is overjoyed to find what religion and society havedone for these colored people. If one who had never heard of "slavery"should be set down here, the Northern idea of "bondage" would not soonoccur to him. 

In the Presbytery which includes Charleston, S. C. , there are twothousand eight hundred and eighty-nine church-members, and of these onethousand six hundred-and thirty-seven, more than one half, are colored. In State Street, Mobile, there is a colored Methodist Church who paytheir minister, from their own money, twelve hundred dollars a year. Notlong since they took up a voluntary contribution for Home Missions, amounting to one hundred and twenty dollars. Their preacher was sent bythe Conference, according to rotation, into another field, and theblacks presented him with a valuable suit of clothes. 

You see things here, good and evil, side by side, and mixed up together, one thing counterbalancing another. If you reason theoretically uponthis subject, as you do "about the moon, " to quote from your letter, itis enough to make one almost a lunatic, and I do not wonder that some ofour good people at the North, who pore over this subject in this way, are on the borders of insanity. 

My great mistake at the North with regard to this subject of slaverywas, I reasoned about it in the abstract, instead of considering it inconnection with those who are slaves under our laws, bound up with us inour civil constitution. Things might be true or false, right or wrong, in connection with the enslavement of a race who had never been slaves, which cannot be applied to the colored people of the South. Hence, thearguments and the appeals founded on the wrongfulness of reducing you orme to slavery are obviously misapplied when used to urge theemancipation of these slaves. Moreover, my thoughts about slavery weregoverned by my associations with the word _slave_, in its worst sense. This is wholly wrong, and it is the source of most of our mistakes onthis subject. 

Dreadful things happen here to some of the slaves in the hands ofpassionate men. One slave who had run away was caught, and was beatenfor a long time, and melted turpentine was then poured upon his wounds. He lingered for several hours. But the horror and execration which thisdeed met with were no greater at the North than at the South. It cannotbe denied that slavery, as well as marriage, affords peculiarprovocations and facilities for cruel deeds, --according to the doctrineof your friend and fellow-Sophomore. But in which section there is themore of unpunished wickedness, I am slow to pronounce, for I do not wishto condemn my own people, nor to justify others in their sins. Anexcellent minister in Cincinnati not long since preached a sermon onmurder, in which he stated that "during his residence in that city, there had been more than one hundred murders, or an average of two amonth, while in no instance had the perpetrator been executed. " Readinglately of a husband at the North throwing oil of vitriol from a bottle, filled for the purpose, over his wife's face and neck, and of a Northernclergyman feeding his young wife, as she sat on his knee, with apple onwhich he had sprinkled arsenic, I questioned whether human nature werenot about the same everywhere. The theoretical right of a master, incertain cases, to put his slave to death, without judge or jury, iscontrolled by the self-interest of the owner who, of course, does notrecklessly destroy his own property. The slave-codes are no justexponent of the actual state of things in slavery. For example, --by lawa master may not furnish his slave with less than a peck of corn a week. This has a barbarous look. But to see the slaves feasting on the fat ofthe land you certainly would not be reminded of the "peck of corn, "except by contrast. There must be some legal standard, below which ifan inhuman master falls in providing for his servant, he can beprosecuted. Hence the "peck of corn. " By the will of an eminent citizenat the North, establishing courses of lectures for all coming time, thepay of each lecturer is to be determined by the market value, at thetime, of a bushel of wheat. This is a fair standard for the unit ofmeasure. 

In arguing with one who should insist that the abuses in slavery are areason for breaking up the institution in this country, I should feeljustified in maintaining that there are as many instances of a happyrelation between, master and servant in the Southern country as thereare happy marriages in the same number of households anywhere. Let therebe four millions of an inferior, dependent race mixed up with a superiorrace, anywhere on earth, and of course, while human nature is what itis, there will be hardships, wrong-doings, oppressions, and barbarisms. At the North, we get scraps of anguish in the newspapers relating tohardships at the South; and many pore upon them till they makethemselves half-crazed. All the circumstances serving to qualify thenarrative are sometimes withheld, and the stories are told with dramaticart. There is sorrow enough everywhere to furnish material for such kindof writing, especially to those who make it their calling, or find itfor their interest, to publish it. But the goings-on of life, at theSouth, with its alleviations and comforts, the practical mitigations ofan oppressive system, theoretical evils qualified by difference ofcolor, constitution, and history, and all the goodness and mercy whichChristianity and a well-ordered state of society provide, we at theNorth do not see. Nor do our people consider that running away, and thecomplaints of the slaves, are partly chargeable to the discontent andrestlessness of human nature; but we seem to take it for granted thatevery one who flees from the South is as though he had escaped from aprison-ship. 

While at the North, I remember reading an article, signed with initials, in a prominent Massachusetts magazine, which contained this sentence:"Arsenic is universally in possession of the negroes; but it isconsidered the part of wisdom, where families are poisoned, that thefact should be kept as secret as possible. " This was brought verypowerfully to my mind one day on passing through King Street, inCharleston, and seeing for a painted sign over an apothecary's shop, atall, benevolent-looking negro, in his shirt sleeves, behind a goldenmortar, with the pestle in his hands, as though at work. 

Now, I thought with myself, as I stood and enjoyed the sight, what apalpable and eloquent, though undesigned and silent, refutation that is, of all such Northern chimeras. If poisons are mixed with articles offood or medicine by the negroes with any noticeable frequency, the signof a negro compounding medicines for public sale would surely be, tocustomers, the most detersive sign which an apothecary could erect overhis premises. That little incident, and things like it, which aremeeting you at every turn, show the state of things here to be inpleasing contrast to the horrors with which the imaginations of many ofus Northerners are peopled. I find, in the "Charleston Mercury, " a goodcut of this "negro and golden mortar, " and I send it to you as anappropriate answer to much of your letter. 

Our landlord, driving us about the country the other day, and needingsilver change, came to a gang of slaves in a field, and cried out, "Boys, got any silver for a five dollar gold piece?" Several hands wentinto as many pockets, at once, and a lively fellow among them gettingthe start, jumped over the fence, and changed the money. I had been herea month when I received your letter, and when I read it I at firstlaughed as heartily, I suspect, as "the pro-slavery Senior" did. Then Ipitied you, and I pitied myself for my own former ignorance, and Ipitied very many of our Northern people, and, not the least, suchpersons as poor "Isaiah, " who I know are honest, but are grievouslymisled. The word slavery is, to us, an awful word. Very much of ouranti-slavery feeling is a perfectly natural instinct. You cannot seeJava sparrows in a cage, nor even a mother-hen tied to her coop, withouta lurking wish to give them liberty. On thinking of being "a slave, " weimmediately make the case our own, and imagine what it would be for usto be in bondage to the will of another. We cannot easily be convincedthat this is not exactly parallel with being one of the slaves at theSouth, nor that to be a slave does not have these things for itsinseparable conditions, which, we imagine, are always obtruding theirdireful visages; namely, "auction-block, " "overseer, " "whip, ""chattelism, " "separations, " "down-trodden, " "cattle. " Hence it is easyfor orators and preachers to work on our sympathies. There are scatteredfacts enough to justify any tale which any public speaker chooses torelate. I confess that my respect for many of our Northern people hasnot risen, as I see them from this point of view. They ought not to beso easily duped, so ready to believe evil, so quickly carried away bypartial representations, and so unwilling to take comprehensive views ofsuch a subject as this. I condemn myself in speaking thus; I partlyblame the novel-writers, and the editors of party papers, and politicalleaders. But we ought at the North to understand this subject better, to listen willingly to information from great and good men who havespent their lives among the slaves, and to discriminate between the eviland the good. The result may be that we shall not change our inbredviews, nor cease to dissent from those who advocate slavery as anecessary means of civilization in its highest forms; but we shallcertainly differ from those who declare it to be, practically, anunmitigated curse to all concerned. I am often made to wish that theSoutherners could be relieved of our Northern hostility and its effectsupon them, just to see them laboring, as they then would, to correctcertain evils which ought to be redressed. We are all apt to neglect ourduty, more or less, when we are suffering abuse. 

Educate this people, some years longer, in the way in which they aregoing on, and they cannot be slaves in any objectionable sense. Tens ofthousands of them, now, are not slaves in any such sense, and they nevercan be; they could not be recklessly sold at auction; the owners wouldrevolt at it, and those in want of servants would meet with greatcompetition in obtaining such as these. A church-member who shouldseparate husband and wife for no fault, would be disciplined at theSouth as surely as for inhumanity at the North. But oh, we say at theNorth, only to think, that all those fine-looking people whom Hattie sawfrom the barouche, that Monday afternoon, were liable on Tuesday morningto have their kid gloves and finery taken from them, and to be marchedoff to the auction-block! Hence our commiseration. And it is a mostgroundless commiseration. 

One thing is especially impressed on my mind. There being sins and evilsin slavery, as all confess, there are men and women here who areperfectly competent to manage them without our help. There is nothingthat seems to me more offensive than our self-righteousness, as I mustcall it, at the North, in exalting ourselves above our fathers andbrethren of all Christian denominations at the South; as though therewere no conscience, no Christian sensibility, no piety here, but it mustall be supplied from the North. When I hear these Southern ministerspreach and pray, and see them laboring for the colored people, and thenthink of our designation of ourselves at the North, "friends of theslave, " and remember that all our anti-slavery influence has beenpositively injurious to the best interests of the slave at the South, Ihave frequently been led to exclaim, What an inestimable blessing itwould be to this colored race, and to our whole land, if anti-slavery, in the offensive sense of that word, could at once and forever cease!and I have as often questioned in my own mind whether slavery has notbeen, and is not now, the occasion of more sin at the North than at theSouth, and whether we at the North are not more displeasing in the sightof God for the things which are said and done there, in connection withanti-slavery, than the South with all the sins and evils incident toslave-holding. I am coming to this belief. 

The people who most frequently excite my commiseration are the freeblacks. They are "scattered and peeled. " The Free States dread theircoming; they cannot rise in the Slave States. Even the slaves look downupon them, sometimes. "Who are you?" said a slave to a free black, in myhearing; "you don't belong to anybody!" Some States have given themnotice to quit, within a specified time, or they must be sold. Some hereinsist that slavery is the only proper condition for the blacks, andthey would reduce them back to bondage. Others remonstrate at this ascruel. Surely it is a choice of evils for them, to be free, or to beslaves, if they remain here. There is one thought that affords a ray ofconsolation, --they are better off, in either condition, than they oncewere in Africa. It is unquestionable to my mind that their relation tothe whites, even in bondage, is, as the general rule, mercy to them, while they are on the same soil with the whites. Allow it to betheoretically wrong to be a slave, --it is, under existing circumstances, protection and a blessing, compared with any arrangement which has yetbeen proposed. I have not sufficient patience to argue with those, Northor South, who contend for slavery as a normal condition. I should becalled at the North "pro-slavery;" but the North is in a passion on thissubject. I am not, and I never can be, an advocate for this relation, initself, but as a present necessity. 

I once heard a speaker at an anti-slavery meeting at home say, "Theytell us how elevated the blacks are, how intelligent, how pious; thatshows how fit they are for freedom, how wrong it is to hold such peoplein bondage. As much as you raise the slaves in our opinion, you deepenthe guilt of the slave-holder. "

This used to dwell much on my mind. I see the thing differently now. Youremember your Uncle Enoch, from Madras, who made your first Malay kite. I remember a fable which he told you when he was flying the kite for thefirst time. "A kite, " he said, "high in the air, reasoned thus: If, notwithstanding this string, I fly so high, what would I not do, if Icould break away! It gave a dash and became free, and was soon in thewoods. " I do not mean to strain the comparison; but, certainly, a_string_ has raised, and now keeps up, the colored race, here. How theywould do, if the string were cut, let wiser heads than mine decide. They cannot have my scissors, at present. 

The way to be friends of the slave, I now see, is to be the real friendsof their masters, and to pray that the influences of truth and love mayfill their hearts. Where this is the case, the slaves, as a laboringclass, are better off than any separate class of laboring people onearth, both for this world and the next. 

As to setting them free at once and indiscriminately, it would be asunjust to them as it originally was to steal them from Africa. So itappears to me. What God means to do with them, no one can tell. That Hehas been doing a marvellous work of mercy for the poor creatures ismanifest. They were slaves at home; they have changed their situation totheir benefit. I have made up my mind to leave this great problem--thedestiny of the blacks--to my Maker, and, in the mean time, pray inbehalf of the owners, that they may have a heart to act toward themaccording to the golden rule. I am glad that I am not oppressed with theresponsibility of ownership. Those who assume it should be encouraged byus to treat their charge as a trust committed to them for a season. I donot argue, much less plead, for the continuance of this system; it maybe abolished very soon, but that is with Providence. I have acquired nofeelings toward the institution which would not lead me to rejoice inemancipation the moment that it would be for the good of the coloredpeople. 

You are looking for my letter to furnish you with details of horrors inslavery. Wherever poor human nature is, there you will find imperfectionand sin; and of course power over others is always liable to greatabuses. If I were to follow the plan of those who collect the horrorsof slavery and spread them out before our Northern friends, but shouldgather merely the beautiful and touching incidents which I meet with, and which are related to me, I could make people think that slavery isnot an evil. But I have not seen an intelligent Southerner who, admitting all that we had said about the happiness of the slaves as aclass, did not go far beyond me in declaring that the presence of asubject, abject race, cannot fail to be an evil. There is not anultraist at the North, whom, if he had their confidence, and were notput in antagonism to him, the Southerners could not make ashamed, andput to silence, by telling him evil things about slavery, which he hadnever contemplated, and by admitting most fully things which he wouldexpect them to deny. But they are placed in a false position by hisclamor and anger, which set them against him and his doctrines. Theysay, "Allowing all that the North asserts, here are the colored peopleon our hands; what are we to do with them?" Not one of the Northern"friends of the slave, " nor all of them together, have ever proposed afeasible plan with regard to the disposal of the slaves, which would bekind or even humane to the blacks. Moreover, theoretical argumentsagainst slavery, and representations of it, from many quarters, are sopalpably wrong, that replies to them and refutations are counted by usat the North as defences of "oppression;" which they were never designedto be. I am surprised at the extent and depth of real anti-slaveryfeeling at the South. Sometimes I question whether Providence is notpermitting the antagonism of the North and South to continue just tocompel the South to hold these colored people in connection withthemselves for their good, until God's purposes of mercy for them areaccomplished, and "the time, times and half a time" of their captivityis fulfilled. If Northern resistance to slavery had ceased, perhaps theSouth would have rid herself of the blacks sooner than would have beenfor their good. 

I hope that you will not think me "a strong-minded woman" in what I hererepeat to you of the opinions and expressions which I have gathered inlistening to the conversation of intelligent people on this subject. Iwrite these things for your instruction, and also as memoranda for myown future use. 

It is a cherished idea with many excellent people that the time willcome when there will not be a slave in this land, nor on the earth. Ifthey mean by this that the time will come when every man in every facewill see a brother and a friend, it is certainly true. But if they meanby it that ownership in man will come to an end, their opinion andprophecy are as good as those of men who should undertake to differ fromthem, and no better; while both would be entirely presumptuous in beingpositive on such a subject. Some people seem to think that, in the goodtime coming, it is as though we should dwell out-of-doors, among flowersand fruits, with few wants, these being supplied by the spontaneousofferings of nature. 

Others, however, suppose that we shall still need some to shovel, takecare of horses, work over the fire the greater part of the day inpreparing food, go of errands, and, in short, be a serving class. Theysuppose that the same sovereign God which distributes instincts, andwisdom, variously, to animals, and gifts of understanding to men, will, in the same sovereign way, create men and women with such degrees ofcapacity and susceptibility as will lead inevitably to their beingsuperiors and inferiors, and that this will be, as it is now where loveand kindness reign, the source of the greatest happiness to allconcerned. 

This being so, none of us will venture to say that no one of theexisting races of men will, to the end of time, be of such gentle, dependent natures as to find their highest happiness and welfare inbeing, generally, in the capacity of servants. Some of all races, we donot object, may be servants to the end of time. No one will say to hisMaker that it will be unjust for Him to put a whole race of men foreverin that serving condition, making them, according to their capacity, most happy in being so. For "Who hath been His counsellor?" That theAfricans are under a cloud of God's mysterious providence, no onedenies. I will not dictate to my Maker when He shall remove that cloud, while I still endeavor to mitigate the effects of it upon myfellow-creatures, the blacks. I do not know that he may not perpetuate, to the end of time, a relationship of dependency to other races in thisAfrican race. I know nothing about it. But I always feel impelled to saythese things, when I hear good men confidently predicting that ownershipin man will soon and forever come to an end. I reply, It may be in thehighest measure necessary to the happiness of the human family, at itsbest estate, that one race, or that races, should be in the relation ofinferiors, finding their very best advantage in the relative place whicha sovereign God has assigned them in the scale of intelligence, byholding that relation to the end of time. Of course it would cease to bea curse; it would become one of those subordinate parts in the greatorchestral music of life which subdue and soften it for the highesteffect. If any one gets angry at such an idea, I leave him to hisfolly; for he is angry without a cause at me, who have, in this idea, expressed no wish that it may be true; and he is angry that his Makershould do a thing which contradicts his pet notions about "freedom. " Butthe singular fact of slavery in this land, continued and defended underall political changes, and now having the prospect of being more firmlyestablished than ever by means of our great national commotion on thissubject, is enough to make a serious mind reflect whether it be whollythe work of Satan, or whether the providence of God be not concerned inthis great and difficult problem. 

It is certainly remarkable that religion, which once gained such afooting in Africa, so soon and entirely died out there, but that theAfricans, transported to our land, are of all races the most susceptibleto religious influences. If we should visit a foreign missionary field, and learn that the mission had been blessed to the extent which hascharacterized the labors of Christians at the South for their slaves, ofwhom, according to the "Educational Journal, " Forsyth, Ga. , there arenow four hundred and sixty-five thousand connected with the churches ofall denominations, we should regard it as the chief of all the works ofGod in connection with modern missions. It is this providential andChristian view of slavery which quiets my mind. Now, suppose that, contemplating a foreign missionary field where such results should befound, one should object: "But there are evils there; people do not alltreat their dependants as they ought; hardships, cruelties, and somebarbarisms remain;"--we should not, I apprehend, proceed to scuttle sucha ship to drown the vermin. But I can see that Satan must be in greatwrath to find himself spoiled of so many subjects. One stronger than hehas brought here hundreds of thousands, who, in Africa, would haveperished forever, but who are now civilized and Christianized. Satanwould be glad, I think, to see American slavery come to an end. We haveno right to go and steal people in order to convert them; the salvationof these slaves will not, in one iota, extenuate the guilt andpunishment of those who were engaged in the slave-trade. But "the wrathof men shall praise Thee. " In the writings of anti-slavery men I do notremember to have met with cordial acknowledgments of what religion hasdone for the slaves at the South. They coldly admit the fact, but oftenthey speak disparagingly of the negro's religion, which is full as goodas that of converts in our foreign missionary fields, as good, judgingfrom some things in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, as that of someconverts to whom he wrote. Our Northern anti-slavery people cannot bearto have anything good discovered or praised in connection with slavery. 

My own hopeful persuasion is, that great and marvellous works of DivineProvidence and grace are in reserve for the African people in their ownland, and that we are to prove to have been their educators. Mostsincerely do I hope, however, that the number of scholars and futurepropagators of religion and civilization, imported here from Africa, will not need to be increased, considering that one hundred and fiftyper cent. Of deaths by violence take place in procuring a given numberof slaves. This is but one objection; others are sufficiently obvious. Both parts of that passage of Scripture are exceedingly interesting:"Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall stretch out her handsunto God. " Egypt, the basest of kingdoms, shall yet send forthfirst-rate men; and Ethiopia, even, shall be the worshipper of God. Ihope that these prophecies, though fulfilled once, are yet to have theirgreat accomplishment. This is my persuasion, and I trust that everynation will be independent; but I shall not discard the Bible, if myinterpretation and hope should fail. Ethiopia is certainly stretchingout her hands unto God in our Southern country. 

Hattie received some papers for children from a young friend at theNorth, last week. After attending the colored Sabbath-school in ----, and teaching a class of nicely-dressed, bright little "slave" girls, andhearing the school sing their beautiful songs, with melodious voices, such as, I can truly say, I never heard surpassed at the North, andafter looking upon the teachers, who represented the very flower ofSouthern society, the superintendent being a man who would adorn anystation, you cannot fully conceive with what feelings I read, in one ofHattie's little papers from the North, these lines, set to music for theuse of Northern children:

 "I dwell where the sun shines gayly and bright, Where flowers of rich beauty are ever in sight; Here blooms the magnolia, here orange-trees wave; But oh, not for _me_, --I'm a poor little slave. 

 "They say 'Sunny South' is the name of my home; 'Tis here that your robins and blue-birds are come, While snows cover nests up, and angry winds rave; _They_ may rest here, --not _I_; _I'm_ a poor little slave. 

 "Here beautiful mothers, 'mid splendors untold. Their fairy-like babes to their fond bosoms fold; My mammy's worked out, and lies here in the grave; There's none to kiss _me_, --I'm a poor little slave. 

 "I've heard mistress telling her sweet little son, What Jesus, the loving, for children has done; Perhaps little black ones he also will save; I ask him to take _me_, a poor little slave!"

No wonder, Gustavus, that you write such letters as your last, fed andnourished as you are on such things as this. I took it with me thatevening to a missionary party at the house of Judge ----. I read thelines. The ladies said nothing for a time, till at last one said to me, "Such things have helped us in seceding. " The Judge took the lines, looked them over, and, smiling, handed them back to me, saying, "Madam, is Massachusetts a dark place?" "Yes, " said a young gentleman, "and thedark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. " "Oh, "said I, "how prejudiced you all are!" Whereupon they all laughed. "Now, "said I, "you think, no doubt, that the author of such a piece is malign. I know nothing of its origin, but I venture to say it was written by onewhose heart overflows with love to everybody, but who is 'laboring undera delusion. '" I did not tell them of the "delusion" which you were"under, " in the Senior's room, but I said, "I have a nephew in a NewEngland college who has the Northern evil very badly. But he is so verykind. Set him to write poetry about the South and he would produce justsuch lamentable stanzas. " Nothing will cure these fancies, about orangesand magnolias not blooming for the little negroes, so well as to bringthese good people where they can see them pelting one another withoranges, such as these poets never dreamed of, and making money byselling magnolias to passengers at the railway stations. 

"Here beautiful mothers, 'mid splendors untold, " etc. I went with thewife of a planter to her "Maternal Association" of slave-mothers. Shegathers the fifteen mothers among her servants once a fortnight, andspends an afternoon talking to them about the education of theirchildren, and reading to them; and when she knelt with them and prayed, I cried so all the time that I hardly heard anything. Oh what a tale oflove was that Maternal Association! "Here beautiful mothers 'midsplendors untold, " etc. ;--those words kept themselves in my thoughts. Now tell this to some great "friend of the slave, " in Massachusetts, andwhat will he say?--"All very good, I dare say; hope she will go a littlefurther, and give those fifteen their liberty. " I sometimes say, "Must Igo back to the North, and hear and read such things?"

Yes, it is such things as these, simple and inconsiderable as you maydeem them, which are dividing us irreconcilably, and breaking up theUnion. It is not Messrs. ----, nor their frenzy, but it is Christianbrethren who allow their Sabbath-school children, for example, to sayand sing, "I've heard mistress telling her sweet little son, what Jesus, the loving, for children has done, " making the impression that such aChristian mother leaves a colored child in her house, withoutinstruction, to draw the inference, if it will, that Jesus, perhaps, will love a "poor little slave!" There are no words to depict thefeeling of injustice and cruelty which this conveys to the hearts of ourChristian friends at the South. "Let us go out of the Union!" they cry, in their blind grief; but where will they go? for while our Northernpeople write and publish and sing and teach their children to sing suchthings, we can have nothing but mutual hatred, and perhaps exterminatingwars. We must change. If our Northern people would discriminate, and, while retaining all their natural feelings against oppression andman-stealing, would admit that "ownership in man" is not necessarilyoppression nor man-stealing, they would do themselves justice andcontribute to the peace of the country. "But O!" they say, "look at theiniquitous _system_. If separating families, and destroying marriage, and liberty to chastise at pleasure, and to kill, are not _sin_, what issin?" So they impute the _system_, and everything in it, to the peoplewho live under it. How a system can be a sin, it would puzzle some ofthem, who say that all sin consists in action, to explain. And when theycame to look into the system itself, they would find, that if slavery isto exist, some laws regulating it are, of necessity, self-protective, and must be coercive. Even in Illinois, it is enacted that a black manshall not be a witness against a white man. But if the slaves couldswear in court, every one sees that the whites must be at the mercy oftheir servants. The testimony of the honest among them is procured, though indirectly, and it has weight with juries; but it is a wiseprovision to exclude them as sworn witnesses. So of other things, whichtheoretically are oppressive, but practically right; while many thingsin the system which are rigorous are as little used as the equipments inan arsenal in times of peace. 

When you quote John Wesley's words and apply them to the South: "Slaveryis the sum of all villanies, " you unconsciously utter a fearful slander. Whatever may have been true of British slavery, in foreign plantations, in Wesley's day, the good man never would utter such words about ourSouthern people could he see and enjoy that which gladdens everyChristian heart. If slavery be, necessarily, "the sum of all villanies, "as you and many use the expression, the relation cannot exist withoutmaking each slave-holder a villain, in all the degrees of villany. Youwill do well to look into the cant phrases of "freedom, " before youindulge in the use of them. The bishops and clergy of the noble army ofMethodists in the South would not sustain their great chief in applyingthe phrase in question to the actual state of things in the Southerncountry. Wesley used those words concerning slavery in foreign colonies;he had not seen it mixed up with society in England, as it is in theSouth. 

Taking the blacks as they are, and comparing them also with what theywould be in Africa, or if set free, to remain in connection with thewhites, slavery is not a curse. To be free is, of course, in itself ablessing. But it depends on many things whether, under existingcircumstances, being a slave here is practically a curse. Our peoplegenerally insist that it must be, and therefore that it is. Here theyare mistaken, as I now view the subject. The British people and theFrench, looking at the blacks in a colony, settle the question ofemancipation in their own minds without much difficulty. But it would befound to be a different thing to emancipate the colored race, to liveside by side with the English people in the mother-country. In thatcase, a contest between the two races for the possession of power, andinnumerable offences and practical difficulties, would, in time, lead tothe extermination, or expatriation, of one of the two races, or to theirintermarriage, if the universal history of such conjunction of races isany guide. 

I do not wonder that the good lady with the "marsh-mallow" exclaimed soat your groundless commiseration of the sick among the slaves. You haveno more idea of the practical relation between the whites and theblacks, the owners and the slaves, than most of the English people, whohave never been here, have of our Federal and State relations. 

I will tell you an incident which I know to be literally true. 

A lady from a free state was visiting at the South. Calling upon amarried lady, a near relative of one who has been Vice-President of theUnited States, she found her with a little sick black babe at herbreast. 

The Northern lady started with astonishment. I am not informed whethershe was what is called among us a "friend of the slave;" the eminentlady friend whom she visited certainly was such, in the best sense. TheNorthern lady's feelings of repugnance would not be found to be peculiarto her among our Northern people. The little babe died on the lap of theSouthern lady. 

So you see that there are more things here than are dreamed of in yourphilosophy. When you stigmatize the Southerners as oppressors, my onlyconsolation for you is that you know not what you do. Imagine, now, theRev. Mr. Blank, at the North, relating that little incident: "Behold andsee this monstrous picture of infinite hypocrisy: The Slave-power with aslave at its breast! Yes, rather than lose one or two hundred dollars'worth of human "property, " a distinguished lady slave-holder will giveher nourishment to a slave-infant. So they fatten the accursed systemout of their own bodies and souls. " Such is a fair specimen of thisman's frenzy; and there are multitudes all over the Free States who willlisten to such language and applaud it. But how cruel it is, how low andwicked! I pray Heaven to deliver you from being an abolitionist in thecast of your mind, your temper, and spirit. Nothing gives me such anidea of the world of despair as when I read ultra anti-slavery speeches. I see how the lost will hate God's mysterious providence, and revile it;and how they will fight with each other, and pour out their furiousinvective and sarcasm and vituperation, and scourge one another withtheir fiery tongues, as they now do, when some one of the party appearsto falter. If there were not something truly good in connection withslavery amid all its evils, I think such men would not oppose it. 

Pray, who are these gentlemen, and who are their extremely zealousanti-slavery friends of more respectable standing, that they should havesuch immense instalments of sympathy and pity for the "poor slave"?Their neighbors are as susceptible as they to every form of humansorrow; they know as much, their judgments are as sound, their motivesare as good as theirs. Had these zealous people made new discoveries, or, were the subject of slavery new, we might give them credit for beingon the hill-tops, while we were in the vales. This passionate sympathy, on the part of some, for "the down-trodden, " as they call the negroes, is not like zeal for a theological, or a political, or a scientific, doctrine, which would justify its adherents in rebuking the error andindifference of others; for if slavery be as they represent it, theproofs of it must be as self-evident as starvation. What if a class ofmen among us should rage against those who do not contribute largely tothe Syrian sufferers, as the zealous anti-slavery people reproach andeven revile those who do not see slavery with their eyes? We should thensay, "Friends, who are you, that you should claim to have all thevirtuous sensibility?"

But more than this, --I doubt, I venture to deny, and that onphilosophical grounds, the true philanthropy of these people. For truelove and kindness always create something of their own kind where theyhave full power. Are there any words or acts of love, kindness, gentleness, mercy, toward others, in the speeches and doings of thezealous anti-slavery people?

I wish that you had been with me, one evening, in a corner of theMethodist meeting-house, where I sat and enjoyed the slaves'prayer-meeting. I had been filled with distress that day by reading, inNorthern papers, the doings and speeches at excited meetings called tosympathize with servile insurrection. In this prayer-meeting the slavesrose one after another, went in front, and repeated each a hymn, thenresumed their seats, while some one, moved by the sentiments of thehymn, would lead in prayer. A white gentleman presided, according tocustom, and I was the only other white person present. Going to thatmeeting with the impressions upon my heart of the terrible excitementswhich you were witnessing at home, and saying to myself, "O my soul, thou hast heard the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war!" youcannot imagine what my feelings were when the largest negro that I eversaw rose and stood before the desk, and repeated the following hymn byRev. Charles Wesley. The first lines, you may well suppose, startled me, and made me think that the insurrection had reached even here. 

 "Equip me for the war, And teach my hands to fight; My simple, upright heart prepare, And guide my words aright. 

 "Control my every thought, My whole of sin remove; Let all my works in thee be wrought, Let all be wrought in love. 

 "Oh, arm me with the mind, Meek Lamb! that was in thee; And let my knowing zeal be join'd With perfect charity. 

 "With calm and temper'd mind Let me enforce thy call; And vindicate thy gracious will, Which offers life to all. 

 "Oh, may I love like thee, In all thy footsteps tread; Thou hatest all iniquity, But nothing thou hast made. 

 "Oh, may I learn the art, With meekness to reprove; To hate the sin with all my heart, But still the sinner love. "

You must read this hymn to "Isaiah, " and tell him about theprayer-meeting. While the "friends of the slave, " as you call them, areholding such humiliating meetings as you describe, in behalf of theslaves, and are vexing themselves and chafing under the imagination oftheir unmitigated sorrows and "oppression, " the slaves themselves, allover the South, are holding prayer-meetings, and are blessing God thatthey are "raised 'way up to heaven's gate in privilege. " As I sat inthat prayer-meeting I could almost have risen and asked the prayers ofthe slaves in behalf of many at the North who are making themselves andothers nearly insane on their behalf. But I thought of my formerignorance and prejudice, and said, "And such were some of you. "

I will tell you some of the little incidents which meet one every day, and which give you impressions respecting the relations between thewhites and blacks, full as instructive as those received in any otherway. 

Crossing a public street, which is steep, in the city of ----, atruckle-cart came by me at great speed, drawn by a white boy, withanother white boy pushing, and seated in it, erect and laughing, was afine-looking black boy of about the same age as his white playmates. Around the corner of another street there came by me, with askip-and-jump step, two white girls, about thirteen years old, andbetween them--the arms of the three all intertwined--was another girl ofthe same age, as black as ebony. On they went jumping, and keeping step, and singing. 

I had not been accustomed to such sights in Beacon Street, on my visitsto Boston. "Friends of the slave, " as we most surely are, and some of usbeing decorated with that name by way of distinction, significant of ourall-absorbing business "to raise the black man at the South to thecondition of a human being, " when we get them there we are not greetedin the streets with pictures of white and black children on such termsas appeared in these two casual incidents. Nothing at first struck mewith greater wonder at the South than to see the most fashionablydressed ladies in the most public streets stop to help a black womanwith a burden on her head, if she needed assistance, or to hold a gateopen for a man with a wheelbarrow. 

One white boy cried to another across a street, "Come along, it's mosttime to be in school. " The other answered, in a petulant tone, "I a'n'tgoing to school. " A tall, white-headed negro was passing; his blacksurtout nearly touched the ground; he had on his arm a very nicemarket-basket, covered with a snow-white napkin, and in his right hand along cane. Hearing what the last boy said, he came to a full stand, putdown his basket, clasped his long cane with both hands, and brought itdown on the brick sidewalk with three quick raps, and then a rap at eachof these points of admiration: "What! what! what!" said he, drawinghimself up to express surprise, and calling out with magisterial voice;"Go to school! my son! go to school! and larn! a heap!" the cane makingemphasis at every expression. The white boy retreated under theimpression of a well-deserved, though kind, rebuke. He did not call theold man "nigger, " nor in any way insult him. 

But here is an incident of a different kind. 

Standing to talk with a man who had charge of my baggage, in thepassage-way between the baggage-room and the colored passengers'apartment. I saw a white man with a pert, flurried manner and coarselook ascend the steps of the cars, and behind him a tall graceful blackman, a little older than the other, with signs of gentleness and dignityin his appearance. As he stooped and turned, his air and carriage wouldhave commanded attention anywhere. The white man, seeing him enter thewrong door, cried out to him with an impudent voice, ordered him back, pointed him to the proper room, and told him to go in there and makehimself "oneasy, " with a laugh at his own attempt at inaccurate talk ashe cast a glance at some white men standing by. The black man was hisslave. The natural and proper order of things was reversed in theirrelation to each other. 

I looked at the black man as he took his seat, and, without beingobserved, I kept my eye on his face. He cast his eye out of the window, as though to relieve a struggle of emotions, but a calm expressionsettled down upon his features. 

A Southern gentleman, a slave-holder, witnessing the scene with me, said, --

"Disgusting! There, madam, you have one of the great evils ofslavery, --irresponsible power in the hands of men who are not fit to beintrusted with authority over others. No man, I sometimes think, oughtto be allowed to hold slaves till he has submitted to examination as tocharacter, or brings certificates of a good disposition. I know thatman. His father was from ---- [a New England State. ] He is what we calla torn-down character. His neighbors all"--but the signal was given forstarting, and the conversation was broken off. 

My first thought was, How glad I would be to set that man free from suchbondage! The next thought was, Where would I send him to be free from"the power of the dog?" I had been reading, in a Boston paper, a lecturedelivered in Boston, by a distinguished "friend of the slave, " againstMr. Webster and Mr. Choate, before an "immense audience. " I thought, Howmuch better it is to be a Christian slave, even to this master, than tosit in the seat of the scornful, applauding such a lecture!

The poor slave was having his probation and discipline, as we all haveours, and he was suffering, as we all do in our turns, from an impudenttongue. Little did he think that a fellow-creature, looking at him atthat moment, was reminded, by his meekness under insult, of Him, ourexample, who, under such provocation, opened not his mouth, and that Iwas made to remember, as I stood there and received instruction fromhim, that the best alleviation and cure of anguished sensibility underill-treatment is in this same silence, and in thoughts of Jesus. 

After the cars had started, I took my Bible from my carpet-bag, and readthese passages: "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; notonly to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this isthankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, sufferingwrongfully. " Then this is enforced by the example of our incarnate Godand Saviour, who is held up to Christian slaves as their example; and inthis connection, not only in this passage, but elsewhere in speaking toslaves, the Apostle brings in the most sublime truths relating toredemption. You will be struck with this in reading what is said toslaves, that in several cases, the train of thought proceeds directlyfrom their condition and its duties, to the most sublime and beautifultruths of salvation. How divinely wise did these exhortations to slavesappear to me, that morning, in contrast with the spirit of the Northernabolitionist, and his talk about "Bunker Hill, " "'76, " and his"grandfather's old gun over the mantel-piece, " and his injunctions toslaves as to the duty of stealing, and even murdering, if necessary, toeffect their liberty. This is not the spirit of the New Testament. Theidea of submission on the part of "servants" to "masters, " of "pleasingthem well in all things, " of "fear and trembling, " "not purloining butshowing good fidelity in all things, " is not found in the Gospel of theabolitionist. He complains that we do not send the true Gospel to theSouth. There are passages in the Epistles addressed to slaves, which, iffaithfully regarded, would make fugitive slave laws for the most partneedless. No wonder that the New Testament, with its exhortations tomeekness and patience under suffering, and the duty of those who are"under the yoke, " and of masters as being "worthy of honor, " and thecaution that the slave do not take undue liberty where his master is abeliever, nor assert the doctrine of equality in Christ as a ground forundue familiarity, or disobedience, is repudiated by the vengeful spiritof the abolitionist. How well the Apostle understood him! "If any manteach otherwise, " that is, contrary to these injunctions as to the dutyof slaves who have believing masters, "he is proud, (that is the leadingfeature of his error) he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting aboutquestions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. " What an anomaly it would be to have an abolitionconvention opened with reading a collect of Paul's inspired directionsto masters and slaves. 

But we never hear anything quoted from the Bible on the subject but"break every yoke!" "let the oppressed go free!" "undo the heavyburdens!" I was telling a slave-holder of the frequency with which wehear these expressions in public prayer. "I could join in every one ofthem, " said he; "I am for breaking every yoke, South and North, unbinding every heavy burden, and destroying every form of oppression. But they must be actual, not theoretical, nor imaginary. "

This gentle slave in the cars, we will suppose, refuses opportunities toescape, but complies with the exhortations of the New Testament, "enduring grief, suffering wrongfully. " His master is at last touched byhis meekness, his "not answering again. " I should relate only that whichI know to have happened, should I say, that one day this master isfilled with distress on account of sin. He goes out into thecotton-field and finds Jacob. 

"Jacob, " he says, "I am a great sinner. Jacob, I feel that I am sinkinginto hell. Jacob, pray for me. I mean to turn about, if I live. "

"Dats jest what I've sought de Lord for, massa, dis six months comingNew Year. Let's go up into de loft; it's whar I've wrastled for you inprayer. "

He leads the way. The floor of the loft is covered with cotton-seed. Awheelbarrow is in the middle of the floor. Jacob takes off his jacket, and with it brushes the cotton-seed away from one side of thewheelbarrow, lays the jacket down for his master to kneel upon, and goesto the other side. Like Jacob at Peniel, he has power over the angel, and prevails; he weeps and makes supplication unto him. The masterbreaks out in prayer. He rises and says, --

"Jacob, forgive me if I've been unkind to you; I've seen that you are aChristian; now if you want to leave me for anybody else, say so. "

"Thank you, massa; only sarve de Lord with gladness for all de goodthings he has done for you, and I'll sarve you de same. Please go homeand tell missis; she told me to pray for you; 'twill finish up her joy. "

This is better than running away and going to Canada. Those Christianswho send the Gospel to the South by missionaries and religious tracts, to promote such scenes as this, do a better work than though theywithheld missionaries and tracts from one half of the nation, and calledit "Standing up for Jesus. "

I am sometimes inclined to put down all that I see and hear, good andbad, and publish a book to satisfy my truly candid but mistaken friendsat the North as to the real truth on this subject. But I have in mindthe way in which similar works have already been received and treated byan unreasoning, passionate North. I have amused myself sometimes inimagining what certain writers would say to some of the incidents whichI have related in this letter. Let me attempt to show you the spirit andmanner of our Northern reviewers when one ventures to state favorablethings relating to slavery. I will take some of the incidents alreadyrelated in this letter and let these men review them. I am perfectlyfamiliar with their style, from having been employed in helping youruncle prepare the notices of new publications for the "---- Review. "Here, then, I will give you first a supposed notice of my little book, should I make one, from a Northern religious newspaper, quoting, in allcases, the identical expressions from articles which I have read:--

"'The authoress, it seems, is yet in her Paradise of slavery. ' Her'opulent friends' and the slave-holders generally, it would appear, gotup little tableaux for her, to impose on her good-nature. Knowing thetimes when she took her daily walks, they put the fattest and sleekestblack boy whom they could find, into a truckle-cart, and made two of thesons of the 'most opulent' citizens race down hill with him. Slavery, therefore, is not the bad thing she and we had supposed. The femaleteacher of a school in the neighborhood of her daily walk was suborned, most probably, by the 'opulent' ladies of the place, to practise anotherpleasing trick. Two white girls and a black girl were made to practiserunning with their arms interlocked, and one day, as our friend came insight, they were pushed out to astonish her with one instance of whitegirls hugging a negro slave-child. No doubt our friend, on seeing thesethree together, soliloquized as follows:--

 "See Truth, Love, and Mercy in triumph descending, All nature now glowing in Eden's first bloom. "

The old negro, respectable and well off, was one of those rareexceptions to surrounding degradation which you now and then see inSouthern cities. The poor slave in the cars, gentle, timid, quivering, was the true exponent of slavery. Had our authoress filled her book withsuch illustrations exclusively, she would have written more truthfully, more for her reputation with the real 'friends of the slave, ' and, weconfess, more in accordance with our taste. "

A writer in a very respectable publication at the North, alreadyreferred to, gave us several years ago a curious piece of criticism onsome publication which he regarded as too favorable to slavery. Hispages, some of them, were crowded with daggers, in the shape ofexclamation marks, --two, three, four, and, in one instance, five, at theend of quotations from the book under review. It was he that made theassertion about the "arsenic, " as being "universally in the hands of theslaves. "

I shall now let him review my little stories. I quote many of hiswords:--

"'To show the ignorance and simplicity of our travelling' lady, we givethe following, --and what will the North say to this new argument infavor of slavery? namely, a truckle-cart! a black boy riding!! two whiteboys giving him a ride!!! and three girls, one of them black! arm inarm!! romping. 'It is not the fault of this writer, that she cannotunderstand a principle;' 'she is a New England Orthodox, '--'and a fairspecimen of the limitations of that type of mankind. ' 'But does not thelady know, ' why negro boys are put in truckle-carts? 'If not, any of herSouthern friends could have told her. ' We can tell her; 'we have livedat the South. ' These white boys were sent on an errand with their cart, and to increase its momentum down hill, and, withal, to tease and worrya fellow-creature, with a skin not colored like their own, they madethis poor slave-boy get in. She should have seen the poor creaturetrudging home, up hill, under a Southern sun, after the little whitetyrants had done with him, unless it was the case, which we more thanhalf suspect, that the ride was a stratagem to convey the poor child tothe auction-block. 'How the merry dogs, ' the white boys, must havelaughed at this Northern lady's complacent looks at them. She had notears for the poor old white-headed negro, who, hearing the word'school' from the lips of his white young masters, had such a rush ofsorrow come over his soul at the thought of the midnight ignorance inwhich the slave-driver's whip had kept him, that he actually dropped hisburden in the public street, and uttered incautious words, for which, nodoubt, old as he was, he caught a terrible flogging. "Why, in the nameof humanity, did not the authoress load her pages, as she might soeasily have done, with scenes like that in the cars? There is slavery!patent! undisguised! In the other cases it is slavery, indeed, butcovered with the pro-slavery lady's snow-white napkin. "

Here is a review of me and of my little stories, by a distinguished NewEngland divine, and author. He has written much on slavery. Havingprepared notices of some of his writings on this subject, I am familiarwith his turns of thought and modes of expression. I have great regardfor him, and always read him with pleasure and profit, not exceptingwhen he writes as follows, in doing which he has the approbation oflarge numbers among the Northern clergy of all denominations, except theEpiscopalians, --who, more than other Northern ministers, are remarkablyfree from ultraisms. 

"Concerning the truckle-cart, 'we would say this, ' that unquestionably'the moral power' of the incident was all which the writer assumes, butits 'logical sequences' 'we utterly deny. ' Slavery is evil, and onlyevil, and that continually; now, to infer that agreeable relations cansubsist between the children of masters and the children of slaves underthe 'immense, malignant, and all-pervading influence of slavery, 'abhorred of Heaven and all good men, does violence to all soundprinciples of reasoning, and is at war with 'the manifest rules ofProvidence. '

"And as to the three girls 'we are prepared to say' that the author 'didnot look deep enough' into the philosophy of human motives under thecontrolling power of slavery. For slavery makes men improvident, andtheir children also; (see 'Judge Jay, ' 'Weld on Slavery, ' etc. ) Thesewhite girls, therefore, probably had no money in their pockets; it wasthe time of recess; they were hungry; the black child we presume hadmoney in her pocket, for by the authoress's own showing (in the story ofa slave changing a gold piece for the landlord), slaves may have moneyof their own. Had our authoress followed her trio down to theconfectioner's, there she might have seen these white children cajolingthe poor black, and making her treat them; in preparation for which theyaffected to put their arms around her; but, in the true diabolicalspirit of slavery, it was only to devour. 

"We have no space to enter philosophically into the instruction affordedus by the old negro and the schoolboys; but there is deep meaning in it, which the true friends of the slave, who may read it, will do well toponder. The old negro is the prophetic representation of hisdown-trodden race, crying with bewildered accents, he heeds not where, 'Go to school! boys; go to school!' Let a united North echo back hiswords, suiting their political action to them, and saying to the coloredchildren, with an authority which shall shake the very pillars of theUnion, 'Go to school, boys! go to school!'

"Nor can we, for the tears which dim our sight, speak as we would ofthe wretched master and his amiable slave in the cars. The sketchreminded us of the best in 'Uncle Tom. ' We need books filled with suchpictures, to electrify the slumbering sensibilities of the North. Wantoncandor in speaking of slavery, is the most unpardonable of sins. Thereis a time to tell the whole truth; but the wise man says. There is 'atime to keep silence. '"

I did not pretend, Gentlemen Reviewers, that my little, pleasingincidents were arguments in favor of slavery; you should not have beenso alarmed; you are really rude; I almost feel disposed to say to you, for each of my tales, as the Rosemary said to the Wild Boar, --

 "Sus, apage! haud tibi spiro;"

which, not having a poetical friend near to translate for me, I ventureto render as follows:--

 "Thus to the Boar replied the Rosemary: O swine, depart! I do not breathe for thee. "

In noticing the manner in which many Northern writers, some of themamiable men, receive the candid views and statements of travellers andvisitors at the South, I have been made to think of a company of theowls, such as you see in Audubon, listening to the reading of David'sone hundred and fourth Psalm, in which he describes nature. Not a smileof satisfaction; on the contrary, if you

 "Molest the ancient, solitary reign"

of prejudice in their minds against the South, they either mope, or makea sad noise. With regard to others, are there any limits to their angerand denunciations? You may, without difficulty, imagine how thisappears to the Southerner, who knows the truthfulness of therepresentations which excite this passionate resentment, and how muchthe character of the North for ordinary candor falls in his esteem, andhow little disposed he is to heed their admonitions, and how absurdtheir demands upon his ecclesiastical bodies to suffer theirremonstrances, appear, together with their subsequent withdrawal offellowship for the reason publicly assigned; namely, that the South willnot let them admonish her "in the Lord. " Indeed, whatever may be true ofslavery, the South looks on the great body of zealous anti-slaverypeople as being in as false and unnatural a state of excitement as theMassachusetts people were in the times of witchcraft. A great delusionis over the minds of many at the North, like one of our easternsea-fogs. It always makes a Southerner merry, when listening, in NewYork or Boston, for example, to a lecture, if the speaker concludes asentence with some allusion to "freedom, " and the people clap and stamp. That the blood should tingle in our veins at so slight a cause, makeshim think that we are certainly in need of something worthy of our greatexcitability, and that we are thankful for small favors in that way. Hedoes not think less than we of liberty where an occasion makes that nameand idea appropriate; but that the condition of his slaves shouldreconsecrate for us all the old battle-cries of freedom, seems to himpitiably weak. It shows him how incompetent we are to deal with theacknowledged evils of slavery; and there are those at the South who arestirred up by us to take extreme views of an opposite kind, which goodpeople there very generally deplore. 

A Southern lady here tells me that some time since, being on a visit atthe North, she received through the post-office anonymous letters withextracts from newspapers containing little items of woe, declared tohave been experienced at the South, with here and there delirious abuseof slave-holders and frenzied words about freedom. She could havematched every one of them, she said, with wife-murders at the North, during her visit. In dealing with people like the slaves, of course menof brutal passions, provoked by their stupidity and negligence, orexasperated by their crimes, and, in cases of ungovernable anger, venting their displeasure upon their negroes under slight or merelyimaginary affronts, give occasion to tales of distress which are nowheremourned over more deeply than at the South. These cases are the naturalresults of a superior and inferior class of society, standing in therelation, the one to the other, of proprietor and dependant, and suchevils are not peculiar to this institution. Human nature is the sameeverywhere. The South is willing to have the abuses of irresponsiblepower among them compared with abuses, discomforts, disadvantageselsewhere. Grant that an owner may abuse his liberty; ownership leads tomore of care and protection than of abuse and cruelty. The slaves arehere; the question is not, What would be the best possible condition forthese people under the sun, but, What is best for them, being on thissoil. "Set them all free, " is the answer of some. Half the ministers atthe North every Sabbath pray for the slaves thus: "Break every yoke; letthe oppressed go free. " If this means, Give the slaves their liberty, this would be their most direful calamity; they would be chased awayfrom every free state, in process of time, and the Dred Scott decisionwould be invoked, even in Massachusetts, by its present most bitteropposers, and in its most misrepresented forms, as a defence of theAmerican white race against the blacks. "Set them free and hire them!"is the reply of others. This, among other effects, would make them a farmore degraded people than they now are. Slavery keeps them identifiedwith the whites; they are more respectable and respected by far, in thisrelation, than they can be, in the circumstances of the case, if theyare detached from the whites. There is no expression which conveys amore absolute error than this, and we often meet with it: "He ceased tobe a slave, and became a man. " I read lately the report of a lecture atthe North, by an eminent gentleman, of great moral worth, and highlyrespected. He said, "A man cannot be, voluntarily, a slave, withouthaving his manhood crushed out of him. " That might be true in our case;but having seen manhood forced into benighted natures here, and splendidspecimens of man as the result, I was, by this remark, reminded again ofthe delusiveness which there is sometimes in the best of logic. You gaveus a good specimen in your admirable illustration of no water in themoon. A comparison of the slaves with the free negroes of the North, andin Canada, and with the free colored population in some of the SlaveStates, will satisfy any impartial spectator that manhood is full asconspicuous in the slaves, as a body, as in the free negroes. 

Here are two extracts from Northern papers, which, true or false, awakencompassion in every human bosom toward the free colored people. Indeed, allowing these statements, so unfavorable to them, to be mostly false, it reveals the antipathy of the white to the colored race when theblacks come to seek equality with the whites. Let these free blacks bemixed up in large proportions with society in England and Scotland, andif Canadians feel as they are here represented, we may be sure that thepresent tone of the British people with regard to American slavery andthe blacks, would also be modified. But here are the extracts:--

 "Getting Sick of Them. --The colored persons of Toronto, having had a meeting to denounce Colonel John Prince, a member of the Canadian Parliament, for speaking against them, he publishes a reply, in which he says, --

 "'It has been my misfortune, and the misfortune of my family, to live among those blacks (and they have lived upon us) for twenty-four years. I have employed hundreds of them, and with the exception of one, named Richard Hunter, not one of them has done for us a week's honest labor. I have taken them into my service, fed and clothed them, year after year, on their arrival from the States, and in return have generally found them rogues and thieves, and a graceless, worthless, thriftless set of vagabonds. This is my very plain and simple description of the darkies as a body, and it would be indorsed by all the Western white men, with very few exceptions. '"

 "Underground R. R. Return Trains. --The 'Cleveland Plaindealer' states that every steamboat arriving at that place brings back from Canada families of negroes, who have formerly fled to the Provinces from the States. They are principally from Canada West. They describe the life and condition of the blacks in Canada as miserable in the extreme. The West is, therefore, likely to have large accessions to its colored population. The Canada folks do not want them, and have shown a disposition in their Parliament, and otherwise, to discourage their coming to, or remaining in the Provinces. In some instances, the question of ejecting those now resident there, has been discussed. Our Western States will be likely to experience a similar attack of the _black vomito_, when they shall have become satisfied with this peculiar Southern luxury. In some localities the superabundant free negro population has already become a burden, while in others they are under severe restrictions, which amount almost to an exclusion from the limits of the state. 

 "Should this exodus from Canada continue to any great extent, it would throw such a burden upon those states which have adopted the most liberal policy towards the negro, that it would occasion a reaction in the public sentiment which would compel them to abandon their abolition doctrine and practice, for their own self-protection. We should then hear of fewer attempts to abduct slaves from the slave-holding states; and abolitionists would be content to allow slaves to remain under the care and protection of their masters. Even though at heart sympathizing with the oppressed and task-worn negro, and yearning towards him with all the love of the professed philanthropist, he would still be permitted to toil and bleed; for now that the route to Canada has been closed, there is no alternative but to take them to their own bosoms. "

Compare with this the condition of the free blacks in South Carolina. The amount of property held by them is $1, 600, 000; their annual taxes, $27, 000; and the free blacks own slaves to the amount of $300, 000 invalue. 

The above statements teach us that any attempts to force the Southernslaves away from their present relation, are in violation of the laws ofProvidence concerning them. If they become free in a natural way, andcan provide for themselves, or be provided for, it is well; otherwise, the South, and their present relation to the white race, are the boundsof their habitation fixed for them by an all-wise God, till his purposeconcerning them as a race shall be made manifest. The people of the FreeStates ought to thank God that the South is willing to keep the coloredpeople. Instead of inflaming our passions against the abstractwrongfulness of holding fellow-men in bondage, we should consider thattheoretical justice to the slaves as a whole would be practicalinhumanity. The destiny of the colored race here is a dark problem. Butit is not for us to penetrate the future. When God is ready to finishhis purposes with regard to their continuance with us, He will open away for their liberation; in the mean time it is our duty to protectthem from their own improvidence and from the neglect and degradationwhich they would suffer at the hands of the Free States. Instead ofaiding slaves to escape, or rejoicing when we hear of runaways, I say weshould feel grateful, on our own account, and for the slaves, that theSouth is willing to harbor them, and we ought to consider that the verybest thing to be done for them is to encourage the South in treatingthem well, mitigating their trials and sorrows, and, in short, complyingwith the Apostle's doctrine and exhortations as to the duty of masters. 

But we have a way, at the North, of delivering over our Southernbrethren to supposed terrible liabilities in their relation to theslaves. "They are sleeping on a volcano;" "they keep weapons under theirpillows;" "they are always in fear. " And when a servile insurrectiontakes place, many close their eyes and lift their hands, and say, "Perhaps the day of retribution is come! They have been 'sinning againstthe Northern conscience;' they have been resisting our well-meantefforts for their good; we would not stir up the slaves against them, "(some kindly say, ) "but if they rise, did not Jefferson say, 'There isnot an attribute of the Almighty that would take part with the whites?'"Thus we prefer to take Jefferson's opinion on this subject, thoughhundreds as good and wise as he, and quite as decided in theiracceptance of the Christian religion, differ totally from him. Instrictly political matters, many of the same people who love to quoteJefferson against modern slave-holders, are of opinion that time andexperience give modern statesmen some advantages in their judgments. Asto Jefferson's oft-quoted remark, above cited, it appears to me that ifthe Almighty has anywhere set the seal of his divine blessing, clear andbroad, it is on the Christian influence of our Southern friends uponthis colored race. 

It is humiliating to me, in looking back to the North, to see howinjudicious and weak we are in pouring out our sympathy upon a fugitiveslave, without discrimination. The lecture before the Boston audience, already mentioned, contains a perfect illustration of Northern credulityin the case of fugitive slaves. The lecturer tells us that while readingthe printed report of Mr. Everett's Oration at the inauguration of theWebster statue, a fugitive slave appeared at his door, and, baring hisbreast and back, showed him the marks of the branding-iron, and thescars from the lash. At the sight, he says, the paper dropped from hishand. He "thought of Webster and the Fugitive Slave Law. "

Now this negro was, just as likely as not, one of those characters whomwe call jail-birds. If so, and he had lived at the North, instead ofbranding-iron and stripes, he might have had parti-colored pants, andmanacles, and a record of ten or twenty years in the state's prison. Butbecause he ran away from the South, he straightway became, as a matterof course, a martyr and a saint. Perhaps he was, truly, a saint; andperhaps he was not. 

Looking out of the window in a hotel the other day, we saw two whitemen leading up a black man with a leather bridle around his neck. 

"Here, Hattie, " said your Uncle, "here is slavery; now you have it infull bloom. "

The poor fellow was crying and protesting and begging to be released. Your Uncle stepped out and spoke to a very respectable gentleman whom hemet on the piazza. He could not refrain from expressing some feeling atthe sight of a fellow-creature so literally "reduced to the level of thebrutes. " I did not hear the whole of the conversation, for my attentionwas diverted by two roosters who just then flew at each other and wereassailed by a troop of black urchins who tried to scare them apart, pulling their tail-feathers and uttering ludicrous cries. 

"You are from the North, sir, I take it, " said the gentleman, in replyto your Uncle. 

"I am, sir, " said your Uncle. "Do you often bridle your slaves in thisway, in these parts? I am seeking for information on the subject ofslavery. "

"I shall be happy to give you any, " said the gentleman. "I am here as amagistrate. "

"I am one at home, " said my husband. 

"One of these white men who led the negro, " said the gentleman, "wasriding on horseback, and was attracted to a by-place by the screams of achild, and found this black man attempting violence upon a black girlten years old. He knocked the fellow down and held him, and called forhelp. A white man who came up took the bridle from the horse, to securethe villain with it. They have with difficulty kept the negroes fromputting him to death. "

"We are all ready, sir, " said a sheriff to the gentleman. 

"Will you walk into the hall?" said the magistrate to your Uncle. 

But the stage-coach was waiting for him, and we were soon on our way. Your Uncle was silent for nearly fifteen minutes, when he said, --

"What is that passage, Hattie, about answering a matter before youunderstand it?"

I gave Hattie my Bible, and, after a while, she read:

"He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shameunto him. The spirit of a man"--

"That will do, child, " said your Uncle, "I wanted only that one verse. "

 * * * * *

I should be glad to transfer some of this Southern ease and beauty ofmanners to the North. I wish that we could see more of these Southernladies and gentlemen there. They stay away very much, because theycannot bring servants with them. Whole families would rejoice to visitour Northern shores and mountains for summer residences, were it not forthis. When our passions subside, and we can look at this subject fairly, we shall repeal the statutes which prevent a Southerner from residing ina free state for a season, with his or her servant. The people ofMassachusetts, for example, can easily appreciate the hardship of beingkept away from a clime which they would visit for health or recreation, by the fear of being set upon by a mob of whites and blacks seeking todrag a wet-nurse, for example, before a court to be interrogated whethershe does not wish to leave us. How long will our warm-hearted, hospitable people allow such things? The answer, from ten thousandtongues, will be, So long as Southern people imprison colored seamenfrom the North!--If Southern slaves should come here and make troublebetween our domestics and us, and we should forbid their coming, thecases would be more nearly parallel. --Moreover, it will be said that themanner in which people from the North have in many instances of latebeen treated at the South, does not encourage the hope and prospect ofamicable intercourse. This is certainly so; and therefore what have weto look for but everlasting hatred and strife? and that whether we beone nation or two confederacies. 

A distinguished Southern gentleman came home from his visit to theNorth, where he had received great attentions, and he filled his hearerswith his enthusiastic admiration of us for our wonderful ingenuity inall the arts of life. 

"It is astonishing, " said he, "how they work everything into shape, andcreate instruments for their purposes. But, " said he, "there is onething in which they are deficient. They are omnipotent with matter, butthey do not know how to govern men. If they did, " said he, "there wouldbe no chance for us in any form of contest with them. "

I was much entertained, and I said to him that I supposed his remarkswould need qualification on both sides; but I was greatly impressed, asI often am here, with the secret, strong attachment which there is inSouthern hearts to the North as a part of the country, irrespective ofits anti-slavery views and feelings. Its climate and institutions andarts and scenery are adapted to their diversified wants. "The North andthe South, Thou hast created them. " God made the North for the South, and the South for the North, and our acts of non-intercourse are inviolation of his will. We are in a war of "conscience, " inflamed bydoctrinal error on our part. It allows no "conscience" to the otherside. The state of our "consciences" at the North is jury, judge, andexecutioner. There is no "conscience, " we think, in Southern churches, ministers, judges, citizens, except that which is defiled. Probablythere is not on earth this day a greater despot, or one more preparedfor inquisitorial proceedings, than "Northern Conscience. "

No doubt I should be contented and happy to be a slave-holder, had Ibeen born and bred here, but I rejoice that I belong to a free state. Ilove to think of my capable girls, my "help. " at home, who make thehousehold go like clock-work, instead of having a swarm of servants whodo only half as much, and only half as well. I am glad, too, that mychildren live in a climate favorable to labor, and are not born to bewaited upon. But I am ashamed of those who erect these things into aninvidious comparison, and with a supercilious, reproachful spirit. God, who made us of one blood, has fixed the bounds of our habitations. Ilove these Southerners as I never loved new acquaintances before. But Iprefer a state of society free from slavery: yet this makes me lovethose to whom God has given a South country, and imposed upon it anecessity, at present at least, to employ the African race ascultivators of the soil. It has often disturbed my feelings to hear somepeople inveigh reproachfully against the Southern country, as comparingunfavorably with neighboring free states. Going up the Ohio River oneday, a Northern gentleman pointed to some poor-looking lands in Kentuckyon the one hand, and some flourishing fields of Ohio on the other. "There, ladies and gentlemen, " said he, "is slavery, " pointing toKentucky, "and there, " turning to the other side, "is freedom. "

"Now, " said an intelligent Ohioan, "if you will excuse me for sayingit, I regard that as clear humbug. What is cultivated on either side?The products of Kentucky, if raised in Ohio, would give the same look toher lands. It is not slavery and freedom that make the difference; it isthe difference between large staples sown over large territories, andsmaller staples raised on smaller fields. Kentucky's soil would beexhausted just as fast under free labor, so long as she cultivated herpresent crops. "

I long to see some clear running water. Our streams and brooks in NewEngland are not appreciated till one comes to this part of the land. Ilong to see some good grass. I yearn for some hills. I would sail againalong our rock-bound coast; Oh for a walk on its beaches, to see thetunnellings of the sea in the rocks, and the spouting-horns. But what arelief it is to be in a section where the Christian religion is sogenerally accepted, and the swarms of errorists and sectarians whichabound elsewhere are comparatively unknown. Here, the lowest class, inwhich error would be prolific, is under instruction, to a great degree. I see now why it is that false views about slavery are a great stimulantto heretical views and feelings;--they are a convenient substitute forthe love and zeal which true Christianity supplies. The human mind, where it is accustomed to act freely, must be impelled by somemaster-passion; and when true religion does not supply it, error standsready to satisfy the demand. 

On the whole, I am persuaded that our Northern people behave full aswell under the anti-slavery excitement as Southerners would if theirconsciences were perverted like ours, and we were the objects of theiropposition. I think that a change will come over us. At the North, youhave heard the wind, at midnight, after a warm rain, in winter, haul outto the north-west, and you know what a piping time we then have of it, and how the clear cold air, the next morning, and the bright sun, exciteand cheer us. There has been with us for a long time at the North, inour political and religious atmosphere, a warm, foggy, unwholesomedrizzle of weak, fanatical feeling, with now and then gusts of wind andscud, --a kind of weather most abhorred by mariners. But we hope that thewind is changing, and that "fair weather cometh out of the North. " Godwill not suffer us to live long, we earnestly hope, in this condition ofmisunderstanding and hatred, for it would be contrary to his establishedlaws that we should long continue to be one nation with such feelingstoward each other. The change will be in the North. Slavery will come tobe regarded as not in itself a sin, and the evils incident to it will beleft for those immediately concerned to bear them or seek their removal. Or, if we become divided, the Southern section may extend its conquestsinto the whole southern part of the American continent, and spread theinstitution of slavery over that vast domain. God may have purposed thatthe good which has flowed to the African race in this land by itsconnection with us, shall be extended to millions more, not byimportation, we may suppose, but by propagation here. I say this to showthat fanatical opposers of slavery may be employed under God as theinstruments of extending slavery to the very limits of habitable land inthe southern parts of our continent. We have tried in vain at the North, for thirty years, to abolish slavery. It is time either to cease, or totry some entirely different influences. 

But I must close my long letter. When you write again, I have no doubtthat you will have seen some things in a new light. Tell me more aboutyour studies. I was interested in your way of describing things. I onlywondered that, with your occasional sense of the ludicrous, you shouldnot have been aware of the impression which you yourself must have madeon others. Burns's "giftie, " "to see oursel's, " etc. , we all, more orless, need. I told Hattie the other day that I thought some parts ofyour letter did you very great credit, but that the monomania of theNorth has fallen upon you, and that you have it, as it seemed to me, inone of its worst forms. Some it makes fierce, others, flat, according asthe victim is, naturally, more or less amiable. 

Your mother gave you in charge to me in her last sickness, and I must doall in my power for your best good. I have, therefore, told you somethings which I have seen and considered. These you must now add to thefacts of your "inductive philosophy. " Your definition of "pro-slavery, "and "friends of oppression, " is a fair illustration of a prevailingstate of mind at the North:--"Pro-slavery--_i. E. _, do not agree with mein my manner of viewing and treating the subject. " This you willcorrect. Excuse my freedom, but you have no father nor mother now, toadvise and guide you, and you must let me be your Mentor in some things. I shall keep your letter and let you see it perhaps ten years hence. Becareful what newspapers you read. Those which abound with low, opprobrious language about the South and Southerners, avoid. There aresome low Southerners about here who go around buying up refractory andvicious negroes; they are the dregs of society; but I have listened, with others, at the North, to men, on the subject of "freedom, " who, Ithink, would take kindly to this business, and they would be as heartyin it as they are now in vilifying it. The "Legrees" are not confined tothe South. Do not incline your ear to those who systematically inveighagainst slavery, making it their principal business. You will invariablyfind that there is something false and wrong in their principles as wellas spirit. Be careful to what influences you commit your thoughts andyour taste. 

You need not become a friend of oppression; you need not approve of"auction-blocks, " and "separation of families;" slavery can exist whenthese are done away. Until you are appointed and commissioned as aminister of righteousness to Southern Christians and ministers, I adviseyou to blot slavery out of the list of topics about which you are calledto express the least concern. The South will work out the problem forherself, with the help of that God who has evidently appointed her to doa great work for the African race, and all the more perfectly andspeedily as our Northern people let her entirely alone as to the moralrelations of the subject. 

You subscribe yourself, "Yours for the slave;" I shall subscribe myself, "Yours for preaching the Gospel to every creature. "

With the strongest love, Your affectionate Aunt. 

CHAPTER VI. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

 "The sages say dame Truth delights to dwell, Strange mansion! in the bottom of a well. Questions are, then, the windlass and the rope That pull the grave old gentlewoman up. "

 PETER PINDAR. 

My friend, Mr. North, having read the foregoing letters, wrote me a noterequesting me to come and spend an evening with him and his wife, andanswer some questions occasioned by these letters. The lady was earnestthat I should do so. 

After being seated before a cheerful fire in my friend's house, while itwas raining violently, so that we felt defended from all interruption, my friend said, --

"Here, first of all, is the Southern lady's letter to her father, which, I suppose, belongs to him, and which you may wish to send back. "

"I do, " said I. 

"But, please, " said Mrs. North, "let it be published. Add to it theincident of the Southern lady nursing the sick babe of a slave. "

"O my dear, " said her husband, "that would create a false impression. Itwould be a pro-slavery tract. It would abate Northern zeal against the'sum of all villanies. ' Something should go forth with suchrepresentations to correct their influence in the Free States. Whatwould become of the cause of freedom should such stories make theirimpression upon the minds of our people?"

"You might, " said I, "make a heading of an auction-block, orslave-coffle; add the last pattern of a slave-driver's whip; picture apanting fugitive on his way to the North; give us a ship's hold, with ablack boy just detected among the stowage. You would thus, perhaps, keepthese beautiful, touching illustrations of loving-kindness inslave-holders from having the least effect. "

"It is very important, " said he, seriously, "to keep up a justabhorrence of slavery here at the North, because"--

"Excuse me, " said I, "but what do you mean by an abhorrence of slavery?"

"Why, " said he, "is not the Christian world agreed that 'slavery is thesum of all villanies'?"

"By no means, in the United States, " said I; "you might with as realtruth say that here slavery is the sum of all the loving-kindnesses. "

"Is not that letter of the Southern lady to her father, " said he, "asrare a thing almost as a white crow?"

"O husband, " said Mrs. North, "what an opinion you must have of Southernsociety!"

"Is not Gustavus, " said I, "a perfect representative of the North, onthe subject of slavery? Does not ultra anti-slavery find or makeeverybody, as the Aunt says, either fierce or flat?"

"You do not believe so, " said he. 

"Neither do you believe, " said I, "that where Christianity has exertedthe same influence on the hearts of men and women as on yours, and allthe humanizing and elevating influences of society prevail, that letteris a rare product. "

"I cannot believe, " said he, "that one can own a fellow-creature, holdGod's image as property, and be a true Christian. This lady is anexception which does not destroy the general rule. "

"My dear sir, " said I, "you are an abstractionist. You make the bestpossible condition under the sun your standard, to which you would makeall men and things conform, instead of allowing for the vastinequalities, the necessities, the mutual dependence, the longhistorical conditions of men, as individuals and races. A race or classof human beings may be in such a condition, that being 'owned' by asuperior race will be, in their circumstances, a real mercy and a greatblessing. "

"O my dear sir, " said he, "I weep over the degradation of your moralsense. 'Owning a fellow-creature!' I would not hold property in a humanbeing 'for all the wealth that sinews bought and sold have everearned. '"

"Thousands of men and women, " I replied, "as good in the sight of God asyou or I, think otherwise. There is nothing in the relation of ownershipto a human being which in itself is sinful, or wrong. "

"If it is your purpose, " said he, "to argue in favor of oppression, perhaps we had better not pursue the conversation. "

"Uncharitableness, false judgments, self-righteousness, " said I, "condemning a whole people for the sins of a few, are as truly'oppression' as anything can be. I plead for no wrongs; I justify noselfishness in the relation of master and servant; I regard the goldenrule of Christ as the law by which slave-holding should be regulated inevery instance. "

"I never expected, " said he, "to live long enough to hear of the goldenrule being applied to slavery! It would be like applying light todarkness, truth to falsehood, holiness to sin. "

"By what rule, " I inquired, "do you think the lady is habituallygoverned who wrote the letter which has interested you so much?"

"Why, " said he, "there are good people under every iniquitous system. These exceptional cases are not the rule of judgment with regard to thenature and effect of a system. "

"Can you not imagine one man owning another, " said I, "undercircumstances, and with motives, and in a temper and spirit which willmake the relation most desirable?"

"I go further back, " said he, "and I deny that it is right for one humanbeing to own another. "

"Has not God a right, " said I, "to place one human being over another ashis owner?"

"Has God a right, " said he, "to countenance theft and oppression?"

I said to him: "I might follow your example, and answer you by asking, Has God a right to countenance war? But I will relieve all yourdisagreeable apprehensions as to our conversation at once, by sayingthat I am not to argue in favor of oppression. If holding a slave isoppression, it is a sin. And if it be inconsistent with the golden rule, it is a sin. "

"If that be your doctrine, " said he, "we shall soon agree. Now apply thegolden rule to slavery. Are there any circumstances in which you wouldyourself be willing to be 'owned'?"

"Certainly, " I replied. 

He rose, and put some lumps of coal upon the fire with the tongs, andsaid, "I presume you mean what you say, and that you do not wish totrifle with the subject. "

"Mr. North, " said I, "would you be willing that any one should make youhead-cook in a hotel, engineer in a steamboat, or keeper of a floatinglight?"

"No, Sir, " said he. 

"You would, Mr. North, " said I, "under given circumstances. You wouldpetition for such places, get recommendations for them, and countyourself perfectly happy, if you succeeded in obtaining them. 

"Now look at the slaves. They are a foreign race, we are their civilsuperiors, and unless we amalgamate, we intend to remain so. While weare in this relation, it is a privilege to the blacks to have owners, but they must use their ownership according to the golden rule. Whenthis is done, the condition of the blacks, in their present relation tous, is happy. "

"How often, " said he, "do you suppose that it is done?"

"That, " said I, "is another and a very interesting question, which wewill consider soon. You took the ground, as I understood you, that thelaw of love would prevent any one from holding a fellow-creature as aslave. I reply that it would be in perfect accordance with it, as theblacks at the South are now situated, for the whites to be their humaneowners. But pray what do you mean by 'owning' a human being?"

"I mean, " said he, "having the right to abuse them, domineer over them, work them as cattle, sell them, and--"

"Did this Southern lady, " said I, while he paused for more words, "everacquire a right with her ownership to treat Kate so?"

"Her laws, " said he, "give her a right to punish her; and suchirresponsible power is fearful. She could whip her to death and"--

"And be punished for it, " said I, "as surely as you would be forwhipping a servant to death. "

"She is at liberty to punish more severely than the case warrants, " saidhe, "and then she can shield herself under the laws. "

"I presume, " said I, "a Northern parent never gives a hasty box on theear, never strikes one passionate blow in the chastisement, never shakesa child a single trill beyond the due harmony of parental affection, never scourges it with the tongue to momentary madness! What a dreadfulthing parental authority is! Would it not be well to abolish theauthority of parents over children! Indeed, would it not be well to gofurther, and interdict the public lands of the United States from beingsettled; for as surely as men live there, every form of wickedness will, in its turn, be perpetrated. How much better the calm and holy silenceof the woods and fields, than if the tumultuous passions of men shouldroll over them!"

"But, my dear sir, " said he, "I maintain that oppression is inseparablefrom the holding of a slave. I insist that this Southern lady, if allher feelings and conduct toward her servants are like her letter, is anexception among her people. "

"No, Sir, " said I, "she is the general rule among all decent people, andthere is as much sense of decency and propriety there as with us, asmany good people, kind, humane, generous, and it is as rare a thing fora servant to be ill-used there, as for our apprentices, and servants, and even our children. How kind and good you would be, Sir, ifProvidence should place a human being under you as his owner, for themutual good of both of you. "

"Dear me, " said he, "I should try to feel and act just as I supposethose Southerners do who, you say, are fairly represented by this lady'sletter about the slave-babe. "

"Mr. North, " said I, "suppose that the State should make you theabsolute owner of some of those boys who set fire to the Westboro' andDeer Island institutions. In consideration of your personalresponsibility for them, there is ceded to you all right and title totheir services, and absolute control over them, subject, of course, tothe laws against misdemeanors and crimes against the person. My onlypoint is this: Where would be the sinfulness of that relation? All thatwould be sinful about it would be in your neglect or violation of yourduty as a master. "

"How glad all this makes me feel, " said he, "that I am not troubled withslaves. If we do not like our servants or apprentices, we can get rid ofthem. "

"Then, " said I, "you surely ought to pity those who are bound to theirslaves and have to put up with a thousand things which you say we canescape by changing our help. "

"But, " said he, "can they not sell off their slaves when they please?"

"Suppose, however, " said I, "that they happen to be humane, as Mr. Northis, and as we all are in the Free States! and that they are unwilling toturn off a poor helpless creature for her faults, to be sold, and to gothey know not where!"

"Slavery, " said Mr. North, "is surely a great curse. I am so glad that Ilive under free institutions. "

"Who made us to differ from the South in this respect? How came thoseblacks there? Whose ships, whose money, imported them? You remember thatit was by the votes of Free States, that the importation of slaves wascontinued for eight years beyond the time when the Southern States hadvoted in the Convention that it should cease. And now what would youhave the South do with the slaves, to-day?"

"Set them all free, " said he, "'break every yoke; proclaim liberty tothe captives, the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound. '"

"Allow me, " said I, "to smile at your simplicity, for you are verychild-like, not to say childish, in your feelings. You would have thecolored people universally go free. Do you really think that Kate isworse off in being what you call a slave, than that young, free blackwoman who keeps a stall and sells verses and knives near our Park?"

"O dear sir, " said he, "liberty is a priceless boon; liberty"--

"Liberty to what?" said I. 

"Why, " said he, "liberty not to be sold, nor to be beaten, nor to besubject to the wicked passions of a master. "

"Would you rather, " said I, "have your daughter a servant in a Southernfamily, brought up as a playmate with the children, a sharer in many oftheir gifts, a partner with their parents, as the children grew up, inthe pride and joy of the parents, an honored member of the wedding partywhen a daughter is married, one of the principal mourners when the bridedeparts, identified with the history of the family, provided for in thewill, a support guaranteed to her by law in sickness and old age, andthat, too, not in a pauper establishment, but in her owner's home, andwhen the parents die, if she survives, taken by some branch of thefamily or neighbor from regard to her and to them; her moral andreligious character improved under their training, a respectablestanding in society conferred upon her by her connection with them, herreligious privileges sacredly secured to her, any insult redressed asthough it were the family's personal affair; she a partaker of theirfood and of all their comforts, and followed to her grave with respectand love; or, for the sake of 'priceless liberty, ' 'heaven's best giftto man, ' would you prefer to see her seated under the iron fence of apark, an old umbrella tied to the pickets for her shelter, and she, inrain and sunshine, selling 'Old Dan Tucker, ' 'Jim Crow, Illustrated, 'and pea-nuts, and sleeping you know not where? Which lot would youchoose for a child? Which is best for this world and the next? In onecase, she is 'owned, ' she is 'a slave;' and in the other, she is a freewoman. "

"You have no right, " said he, with some warmth, "to take the bestcondition in slavery, and the very worst in freedom, and compel me tochoose. "

"'Best condition in slavery!'" said I; "is there any 'best' in being aslave, in not being free? Does it admit of degrees? Is not being 'owned'such a curse, such an unmixed iniquity in its essence, that to compareits best estate with the worst in freedom, is like comparing the bestdevil with the most inferior saint? Is not a devil's nature incapable ofcomparison as good, better, best, with anything which is not, in itsnature, devilish? According to your conversation just now, it seemed asthough being 'owned' always implied an unmitigated transgression; andnow when I inquire whether you would prefer degradation to the iniquityof being 'owned' in comfort and usefulness, respectability andhappiness, you shrink from the question. If freedom in the abstract isthe best thing under the sun, of course you will prefer it to everythingelse. No happy condition, no happy prospect for this life, and the lifeto come can, in your view, make being 'a slave, ' as you call it, capableof being compared with this abstract privilege of being free. In thisyou and your friends labor under a huge mistake, and it poisons all yourviews and feelings about slavery. When you denounce slave-holders andslavery, and depict the condition of the slave in your awful colors, they at the South know that in hundreds of thousands of instances, as itregards masters and slaves, all that you say is practically false; youare carried away by your zeal against a theoretical wrong. 

"Now suppose that instead of starting with the theoretical wrong andgetting only such facts as illustrate it, you should travel through theSouth to pick up such letters as you consider this, respecting Kate, tobe;--what a pleasing view might be presented of the slaves' condition incases without number!"

"But, " said he, "there are terrible evils underlying these fair featuresof slavery. "

"True, " said I, "but why, in the name of truth and love do you neverhear such a letter as this read on the platforms of Northern abolitionsocieties? What mingled groans and hisses and shrieks for freedom, andthen what an emptying of the demoniacal epithets there would be, if sucha letter should be offered. One case of whipping would have more effectthan a thousand such letters, in your assemblies and newspapers. No onefrom the continent of Europe would infer from those meetings that suchbeings as Kate and her little babe, and this lady and her husband andfather, existed even in fiction, but that slave-holders are Legrees, andthe slaves their victims. What a beautiful effect it would have on usand on the South, if touching tales of loving-kindness between mastersand slaves, instances of perfect happiness in that relation, should becited, and then you should enter your candid, but decided opposition tothe system, to its extension, to its evils where it exists. How soon weshould all be found working together, so far as we might, for theamelioration of the colored race here, with a view to the extinction ofslavery in every form of it in which it is an evil, or a greater evilthan anything which might properly be substituted. "

"Well, " said Mrs. North, "husband, what do you say to that?"

"I like it, " said he. 

"But now, " said I, "the language of the place of despair is exhausted indescribing and denouncing the South. If a man among us lifts up hisvoice to say good things about Southerners, one universal hiss goes upfrom all your conventions and anti-slavery prints. He may be seeking thesame end with you, namely, the peaceful removal of slavery, with dueregard to the highest good of all concerned; but let him utter a word inarrest of your unqualified condemnation of slavery as it actually is, and there are no persecutors, nor scourges, nor intolerance on theearth, more fierce and cruel than you and your denunciations. "

"Take it patiently, husband, " said Mrs. North, "you know that youdeserve it. "

"I know from this, " said I, "if from nothing else, that your theory iswrong. The truth does not excite such passions in those who love andseek to promote it. We see that, in cases without number, the presentcondition of the slaves is a blessing for both worlds, and that if allwho possess slaves were, as many are, slavery would cease to be any moreof a curse than any dependent condition in this world. There must alwaysbe those who will do every sort of menial work. The great Father of all, who himself says that he has 'deprived' the ostrich 'of wisdom, neitherhath he imparted to her understanding, ' so arranges the capacities ofsome that their happiness consists in leaning upon superior intelligenceand capability. 

"The serving people, in some districts of country, are volunteers fromall races; at the South, they consist of one inferior, dependent race, who for ages have been slaves in their own country, and would be sucheven now, if they were there. We will not shut the door of hope foreverupon any part of the human family, as to their elevation among thetribes of men, but this race has, for a long period of its history, evidently been undergoing a tutelage and discipline at the hand ofProvidence. There is some marvellous arrangement of Providence, it seemsto me, designing that this black race shall lean upon us. Let the samenumber of any other immigrant race have gone from us to Canada as ofthis colored race, and the world would have heard a better report fromthem ere this. They thrive best in connection with us as their masters, whether it be right or wrong for us to be in such relation to them. "

"But now, " said he, --in a persuasive tone, and evidently wishing to turnthe drift of the remarks, --"just set them free, and hire them; we shallagree then. The slaves will be as well off, and so will their masters. "

"Mr. North, " said I, "being owned is, in itself, irrespective of thecharacter of the master, a means of protection to the negro. Somebodythen is responsible for him as his guardian and provider, and isamenable to the State for his sustenance. You can easily see that, letthe colored people come to be a hireling class, and their interests andthose of their masters are disjoined. There would be conflicts andoppressions among themselves; they would fall into a degraded, serf-likecondition; but now each of them partakes of his master's interests, andrises with him. I am not here pleading for slavery in the abstract, but, the blacks being on the soil, it is far better for them to be owned thanto be free. Why are the Southwestern States, one after another, passinglaws, or framing their constitutions, to shut out from their bordersfree negroes, --people in the very condition into which you would reduceby wholesale all the blacks in the South? I pray you look and see thatyou are an abstractionist, setting what you deem a theoretical wrongagainst a practical good, and under the circumstances, a real mercy. "

"But, " said Mr. North, "slavery impoverishes the soil, makes the whitesshun labor, feeling it to be degrading, and it keeps the white childrenfrom industrial pursuits, and"--

"Please stop, " said I, "my dear Sir, and think of what you are saying, and be not carried away by that popular flood of cant phrases. Now youknow that God has given our Southern friends a south country, nearerthan ours to the tropics. Out-of-door labor there is injurious to thewhite people, as you know. They are not to be blamed for this. God hasnot given them strength to endure exposure to the sun. Had they anorthern climate, in which the labor required by the mechanic arts couldbe performed with safety and comfort, do you not suppose that theywould have the same aptitude and relish as we for handicraft? Theirchildren cannot be brought up to manual labor to the extent that oursare, because the God of heaven has ordained their lot in a land lessfavorable than ours to toil. His providence, making use of the sins ofmen, has placed the blacks here; you and the rest of the world, whodepend upon their cotton, are willing enough to use it in its countlessforms, while you reproach your Maker, as I think, for having caused itto be raised as he has seen fit to do. "

"But Oh, " said Mr. North, "free labor is more profitable than slavelabor. You well know how it affects the soil, and that the great priceof slaves will in time make the system oppressive to the masters, especially if they are all as considerate as you say they are aboutselling. "

"The good Aunt has replied to you as to the soil, and we need notdistress ourselves about the price of slaves; that will regulate itself. You well understand, " said I, "that I am not arguing in favor of slavery_per se_, nor for the slave-trade, nor for the extension of slavery; butI contend that where slavery now exists, no one has yet proposed ascheme which is better than the continuance of ownership, the blacksremaining on the same soil with their present masters. Nor do I mean tosay that the present system must inevitably continue forever. We mustleave future developments in other hands. Of course there are difficultproblems on such a subject as this. Intelligent Christian gentlemen atthe South say that the best schemes which have been proposed byEuropeans for the substitution of apprenticed negroes for slaves wouldmake the condition of the negro as far worse than our slavery as thecondition of a degraded negro here is below that of his master. Who willcare for him when he is old, or sick? Granting this apprentice schemeto be arranged without oppression or sin of any kind, I hold that thecondition of our slaves owned by masters and mistresses, is better thansuch a hireling condition, though it have the appearance of liberty. "

"Why so?" inquired Mr. North. 

"The slaves are not treated as hired horses are liable to be treated, " Ireplied. "We know how a man is likely to treat his own horse, comparedwith the horse which he hires. Men nurse their slaves when they aresick; they provide for them when they are old. By their care andresponsibility for them, and in relieving them from responsibility, theypay them wages whose market-value, if it could be reckoned in dollars, would be higher wages than are paid to the same class of laborers in theland. There are not four millions of the lower class of the laboringpeople in any one district of the earth whose condition is to becompared with that of the Southern slaves for comfort and happiness. "

"I presume, " said Mrs. North, "that you would not regard exemption fromresponsibility as in itself a blessing. You know how it educates us, howit sharpens the faculties, how it makes a man more of a man; thereforeis it, after all, any kindness to the slaves, that they are relievedfrom responsibility?"

"I thank you, " said I, "for that question. Does it concern us that ourdomestic servants are relieved, for the time, of all responsibility forhouse-rent, taxes, political duties?

"Every condition of poverty and toil has its peculiar hardships andsorrows. But putting together, respectively, all the advantages and thedisadvantages of our slaves, he who looks upon a population withenlarged views of liabilities and of the inevitable results in theworking of different schemes of labor, and is not so weak or morbid asto dwell inordinately on real and imaginary wrongs and miseries, which, after all, if real, are compensated for by advantages or surpassed byaggregated smaller evils in other conditions, must admit that, thecolored people being here, their being owned is the very best possiblething for their protection, and the surest guarantee against all theirliabilities to want in hard times, sickness, and old age. 

"Speaking of hard times leads me to say, that if you could put fourmillions of laboring people in the Free States, for a winter or duringcommercial distresses and the stagnation of every kind of business, in aposition where, while they were still active and useful, a singlethought or care about their sustenance would not visit them, you wouldbe deemed a philanthropist and public benefactor. There will not be thesame number of people in the laboring class throughout our land nextwinter, in any one section, whose comfort and happiness will exceed thatof our slaves. "

"Oh, well, " said Mr. North, "all this may be true, but this does notreconcile me to slavery. Our horses here at the North will all becomfortably provided for, notwithstanding any money pressure. But Iwould rather be a human being and fail, every winter, than be a horse. "

"Husband, " said Mrs. North, "do you consider that a parallel case? Mr. C. Is not arguing, as I understand him, that slavery is better thanfreedom. He is not persuading us to be slaves rather than free. He takesthese four millions of blacks as he finds them, in bondage, and he asks, What shall we do with them? You say, Set them free. He says, They arebetter off, as a race, in their present bondage, than they would be ifmade free, to remain here. Not that they are better off than fourmillions of colored people, who had never been slaves, would be in acommonwealth by themselves. "

"I thank you, Mrs. North, " said I, "for your clear and correct statementof my position. And now I will take up Mr. North's parable about thehorses, and apply it justly. Let hay and grass be exceedingly scarce, and I had rather take my chance with an owner and be a horse, in astable, and at work, than a horse roaming in search of food, chased awayeverywhere. The comparison is between horse and horse, and man and man. "

"You make me think, " said Mrs. North, "of an interesting passage in alate magazine, written by a lady. She was on a voyage to Cuba. Shearrived at Nassau. She says, 'There were many negroes, together withwhites of every grade; and some of our number, leaning over the side, saw for the first time the raw material out of which NorthernHumanitarians have spun so fine a skein of compassion and sympathy. Youmust allow me one heretical whisper, --very small and low. Nassau, andall we saw of it, suggested to us the unwelcome question whethercompulsory labor be not better than none. '"[3]

 [Footnote 3: _Atlantic Monthly_, May, 1859, p. 604. ]

"There is, " said I, "this great question of right, with some, as toslavery: As the State has a right to interpose and send vagrant childrento school, has the world a right to interpose, in certain cases, andsend certain races to labor for the good of mankind? This was thequestion which broke upon the lady's mind. It is very interesting to seethe question thus stated, and to notice the graceful touch of apology, and of playfulness, in the manner of stating it. There was risk, andeven peril, in making the suggestion, but, withal, some moral courage. Still a lady may sometimes venture where it might not be safe for agentleman to go. 

"But the question between us is not, 'Freedom or slavery, ' in theabstract, nor, Whether it is right, in any case, to reduce a people toslavery; but, What is best for our slaves? All your proofs that freedomis better than slavery in the abstract, are nothing to the point. "

"It is the foulest blot on our nation in the eyes of the world, " saidMr. North, "that we have four millions of human beings in bondage. "

"Have you read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin?'" I inquired. 

"Ask me, " said he, pleasantly, "if I know how to read. Every lover ofliberty and hater of oppression has read 'Uncle Tom. '"

"That is very far from being true, " said I; "but still, you like UncleTom as a character, do you?"

"You astonish me, " said he, "by making a question about it. He is themost perfect specimen of Christianity that I ever heard of. "

"Among the martyrs, " said I, "have you ever found his superior?"

"No, Sir!" was his energetic answer. 

"Now, " said I, "what made Uncle Tom the paragon of perfection?"

"What made him?" said he. 

"Yes, " said I, "what made him the model Christian? You do not reply, andI will tell you. SLAVERY MADE UNCLE TOM. Had it not been for slavery, hewould have been a savage in Africa, a brutish slave to his fetishes, living in a jungle, perhaps; and had you stumbled upon him he would verylikely have roasted you and picked your bones. A system which makesUncle Toms out of African savages is not an unmixed evil. "

"But, " said he, "it makes Legrees also. "

"I beg your pardon, Sir, " said I, "it does not make Legrees. There areas many Legrees at the North as at the South, especially if we includeall the very particular 'friends of the slave. ' Legree would be Legreein Wall Street, or Fifth Avenue; Uncle Tom would not be Uncle Tom in thewilds of Africa. "

"And so, " said he, "it is right to fit out ships, burn villages inAfrica, steal the flying people, bestow them in slave-ships, and sellthem into hopeless bondage!"

"So you all love to reason, " said I, "or seek to force that conclusionupon us. No such thing. If God overrules the evil doings of men, this isno reason for repeating the wrong. I am insisting that slavery as itexists in the South has been a blessing to the African. This does notwarrant you in perpetrating outrages on those who are still in Africa. 

"But the result has been, through the mercy of God as though we hadtaken millions of degraded savages out of Africa, and had made themcontribute greatly to the industrial interests of mankind. 

"We have raised them from heathenish ignorance and barbarism to thecondition of intelligent beings. Look at them in their churches andSabbath-schools. Slavery has done this. See the colored population ofCharleston, S. C. , voluntarily contributing, as they do, on an average, three dollars apiece, annually, for the propagation of the Gospel athome and abroad. See the meeting-house of the African Church atRichmond, Va. , a place selected for public speakers from the North todeliver their addresses in it to the citizens of Richmond, because it ismore commodious than any other public building in the city. Think of themembership of slaves in Christian Churches; of the multitudes of themwho have died in the faith and hope of the Gospel. Slavery has donethis. The question is whether slavery has been, or is, such a curse, onthe whole, to the African race, that we must now set free the wholecolored population? Please let us keep to the point. The reopening ofthe slave-trade is a question by itself. 

"It seems that God had chosen to redeem and save large numbers of theAfrican race by having them transported to this Christian land. Philanthropists would not be at the cost and trouble of all this. Godhas, therefore, used the cupidity of men to accomplish his purposes, andhe punishes the wicked agents of his own benevolent schemes. His cursehas for ages rested on the African race, and the laws of nature have, toa great degree, interposed to prevent Christian efforts in their behalf. God saw fit to change the prison-house, and prison yards and shops ofthis race from one continent to another, and New England merchantmen, inpart, have been allowed to be the conveyers. In the process oftransferring these future subjects of civilization and Christianity, vast misery is endured, as in opening a way by the sword for theexecution of his decrees, great slaughter is the inevitable attendant. Ilook at the whole subject of slavery in the light of God's providence. And I do not see that his providence yet indicates any way for itstermination consistent with the interests of the colored people. 

"As to the extension of slavery, in this land, if the Most High has anyfurther purposes of mercy for the African race in connection with us, hewill not consult you nor me. He will open districts of our country forthem; if my political party refuses to be the instrument in doing this, from benevolent motives, or from any other cause, He will make thatparty to be defeated, it may be by a party below us in moral principle, as we view it. This question of slavery, its extension and continuance, is therefore among the great problems of God's providence. I shall doall that I properly can to prevent it, and to encourage, and, if calledupon, to aid my brethren now in immediate charge of the slaves, tofulfil their solemn trust; but anything like impatience and passion atthe existence of slavery, I hold to be a sin against God. I pity thosegood men whose minds are so inflamed by the consideration of individualcases of suffering as not to perceive the great and steadfast march ofthe divine administration. Politicians and others who get their places, or their bread, by easy appeals to sympathy for individual cases ofsuffering, are the causes of much misplaced commiseration and of a low, uninstructed view of the great interests involved in slavery. Yet thesevery men who, for selfish purposes, stir up the passions of our people, by dwelling on cases of hardship in slavery, are greatly disappointedwhen Napoleon III. , at Villafranca, prematurely terminates a war ofunparalleled slaughter. They would have preferred, for the cause ofconstitutional liberty and for its possible influence against the Pope, that the fighting had continued a month longer; we hear no patheticremonstrances from them on the score of the killed and maimed, thewidows and orphans and the childless, of homes made desolate, by thisadditional month of battle. Such is man, so inconsistent, so blinded byparty prejudice, so ready to maintain that which, in a change of personsand places, he will denounce. He will be wholly blinded by individualacts of suffering to all that is good in a system; and again, the goodto be effected by a war will blind him to the hundreds of thousands ofdead or mutilated soldiers, with five times that number of bleedinghearts, rifled by the sword of their precious treasures. "

I saw that I had prolonged my remarks to an undue length. We sat insilence for a little while, looking into the fire, and listening to therain against the windows, when Judith called Mrs. North to the door;and, after some whispering between them, Mrs. North said to her, "Oh, bring them in; our company will excuse it. "

The cranberries, it seems, were not doing well over the fire in Judith'sdepartment, and she had hesitatingly proposed that they should bepromoted to the parlor grate, where, after due apologies, they wereplaced. They soon began to simmer; then one would burst, and thenanother, we pausing unconsciously to hear them surrendering themselvesto their fate, while one mouth, at least, watered at the thought of thedelicious dish which they were to furnish; the rich, ruby color of theirjuice in the best cut-glass tureen, and the added spoonful, as a rewardfor not spilling a drop on the table-cloth the last time they wereserved, coming to mind, with thoughts of early days. And here I wasdiscussing slavery. Now, while the cranberries were over the fire, making one feel domestic and also bringing back young days, it wasimpossible to be disputatious, had we been so inclined. The Northerncranberry-meadow and the Southern sugar-plantation seemed mixed up in myfeelings on this subject, qualifying and rectifying each other. Perhapsthe soothing presence of the cranberry saucepan was timely; for, withoutany design, a phase of our subject next presented itself which was notthe most agreeable. I broke the silence, and said, --

"Mr. North, what do you think is the mission of the abolitionists as aparty, and of all who sympathize with them?"

"Why, " said he, "to abolish slavery, to be sure. What else can it be?"

"You are mistaken, " said I. "The real mission of the abolitionists, thusfar, is, To perpetuate slavery till Providence has accomplished itsplan. You know what Southern synods, and general assemblies, and many ofthe ablest men at the South have said about slavery; how they deploredit, and called upon Christians to seek its extinction. The South wouldprobably have tried to abolish slavery ere this, if left to themselves. But they would have failed; and Providence prevented the useless effort. The influence of those sentiments which prevailed in the GeneralAssembly of 1818 would have been to remove all the objectionablefeatures of slavery, at least, preparatory to its final extinction, ifthat could be reached. It looked as though Churches generally would, inobedience to the General Assembly, have made it, in certain cases, thesubject of discipline. Abolitionism, however, began about that time. Ithad the effect to make the South defend themselves and slavery too. Providence saw that the South was weary of the system, and wished tothrow it off. But the years of the captivity appointed of God had notcome to an end. Purposes of mercy for the African race had not beenaccomplished; the South must be made willing to hold these poor peoplefor the 'time, times, and half a time, ' ordained of God. To encouragethem, the God of Nature makes the great Southern staple, cotton, to bein greater demand for the supply of the world; the cotton-gin isinvented, and immediately the slaves are thereby assisted to retain thathold upon the South which was about to be broken off. All this seems tome designed, as it certainly has the effect, to perpetuate slavery untilProvidence shall indicate measures for the removal of the colored peopleamong us. This may be delayed for centuries to come. In the mean time, we at the North, by keeping up our agitation of the subject, haveimpressed the South with the importance of being united against us; butif any of our schemes of emancipation had divided them, it would nothave been for the good of the slaves. So the abolitionists have beenfulfilling their destiny by fighting against Providence to helpperpetuate slavery till the Most High shall disclose his will concerningit. "

"And helped the South, " said Mr. North, "perpetuate violations of themarriage relation, and to separate families, and to countenance all thesins in slavery!"

"Yes, to some degree, " said I; "for should we treat them with commoncandor and truthfulness, make them feel that we appreciate theperplexities of the subject, admit for once, and act upon it, that theyare better and more competent 'friends of the slave' than we, it wouldbe the surest way to put a stop to every evil in slavery. Now they havelittle power over a certain class of men among them, who, when measuresare proposed for the relief of the slaves, raise the cry that they areabolitionists, and excite an odium which deters them from doing manythings which would otherwise be attempted. "

"They might all certainly join, " said Mr. North, "one would think, toprevent the violation of the marriage contract by the slaves, and thesundering of the marriage tie by the auctioneer. "

"Now, " said I, "there are two allegations, and I will answer them. As tothe violation of the marriage covenant by the slaves, are you aware howmany divorces for the same cause are granted in your own state yearly?You will find, on inquiry, that 'freedom' has nothing to boast of inthis respect. As to the auctioneer, and the separation of the marriagetie by him, how often do you think that an honest black man, for nocrime, is taken from his wife and sold, or she from him? How often, doyou suppose, are families divided and scattered at the auction-block? Ifyou will inquire, you will find that the cases are extremely rare; thatin some large districts it has not occurred for several years; and thatin other cases, where it has occurred, regard has been had to theneighborhood of the purchasers, so that members of the same familieshave been within reach of one another. You seem to think that a greatfeature, and the most common effect, of slavery is to separate families. Such is the general belief at the North. Let me remind you that there isno form or condition of service in the world which has more effect thanslavery to keep families together. "

"Well, " said Mrs. North, dropping her work in her lap, "I never thoughtof that before. "

"Why, " said I, "where will you find in the Free States husband and wifeand children living together as servants in the same family?"

Said Mrs. North, "It is rather uncommon with us to find two sistersliving together as help in a family. At least, it is always spoken ofand noted as pleasant and desirable. "

"What would Northerners think, " said I, "of gathering the old parentsand all the brothers and sisters of their domestics together, in smalltenements near their own dwellings? He who should do this would beregarded as a very great saint. So that you may as well say that slaveryis a system by which a serving class is kept together in families, as tosay that its purpose and effect is to break up families. "

"Just think, " said Mrs. North, "of the serving class in our familieshere at the North, --how they are separated by states, by oceans, fromone another!"

"Be careful, Mrs. North, " said I, "how you even hint at such mitigationsin slavery, for you will be denounced as a 'friend of oppression' if youdiscern anything in the system but 'villanies. ' You never hear such afeature of slavery, as that of which we have just spoken, recognizedhere at the North by our zealous anti-slavery people. "

"Do you not think, " said she, "that if we were candid and lesspassionate, and viewed the subject as anti-slavery men at the South do, we should exert far more influence against slavery?"

"If we exerted any, " I replied, "it would be 'far more' than we do now. If we would only cease to 'exert influence' in that direction, and beginto learn that the people of the South are as Christian, benevolent, andgood in every respect as we, this first, great lesson, which we all needto learn, would do us all great good. Self-righteousness is the greatcharacteristic of the Northern people with regard to the South. FifteenStates declare that they are justified before God in continuing thesystem of slavery. The other States would be ashamed to condemn thosefifteen States for immorality in the discussion of any other subject;but here they assume that one half of the American nation is convictedof crime. I take the ground that, if the Churches and the ministry ofthose fifteen States say, With all the evils of slavery, it is right andbest that we should maintain it, I will so far yield my convictions asnot to feel that they are less righteous than I. "

"Oh, " said Mr. North, "but they have been born and educated under thesystem. Of course they must be blinded by it, and their moral senseperverted. "

"There, " said I, "Mr. North, is the 'Northern Evil' again. Oh, what ashame it is for intelligent people to decry Southern Christians in thisway, and to erect their own moral sense into such self-complacentsuperiority!

"You will see in your church one excellent brother, whose heart isfilled with anguish at the thought of the 'poor slave. ' One sits by himwho knows full as much on this and on all subjects as he, who feels thatthe people at the South are perfectly qualified to manage this subject, and that we have no need to interpose. He thinks that if one wishes tobe excited with compassion at the sorrows and woes of men, a short walkwill bring him to certain abodes such as no Southern slave would beallowed by any human master to inhabit. If he would benefit men as aclass, our own sailors need all his philanthropy. But the goodanti-slavery brother is possessed with the idea that the Southern slaveis the impersonation of injustice and misery, and that those who standin the relation of masters are guilty of crimes, daily, which ought toshut them out of the Church. 

"I have often thought that the most appropriate prayers in our publicassemblies, with regard to slavery, would be petitions against Northernignorance and passion with respect to Southern Christians. It is we whomost need to be prayed for. When I think of those assemblies ofChristians of all denominations in the South, with a clergy at theirhead who have no superiors in the world, and then hear a Northernpreacher indicting them before God in his prayers, what shall I say? Theverdict of a coroner's inquest, if it were held over some of his hearersat such a time, might almost be, Died of disgust. "

"Now I desire to know, " said Mr. North, "if we are never to pray inpublic about slavery? Is it not the great subject before the country, and are not all our interests in Church and State deeply involved init?"

"While we believe, " said I, "that holding slaves is a sin, I take theground that praying for the Southerners is a false impeachment. When weare rid of this error, we do not feel their need of being prayed for anymore than 'all men, ' for whom Paul says, 'I will that men prayeverywhere, '--'lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting. ' Our'hands' must be 'holy' when we lift them up for 'all men, ' includingSoutherners; there must be no 'wrath' in our prayers, --which I am sorryto say is too easily discerned in prayers against the South; and theremust be no 'doubting' in the petitioners whether their feelings andmotives are right before God. There is as much in the relation ofofficers and crews in our merchant vessels, to say the least, to enlistthe prayers of ministers, as in slavery. But this relates to ourselves, and has not the enchantment of a distant sin. 

"You must bring yourself to believe, Mr. North, that Southern hearts arein general as humane and cultivated as ours. This, it is true, is agreat demand upon a Northerner. "

"But oh, " said he, (we happening to be alone just then, ) "the cruelty ofcompelling virtuous people, members of Churches, to commit sin, underpain of being sold. "

"Mr. North, " said I, "how do you dare to open your lips on thatsubject, --you, with myself, a member of a denomination in which men, eminent in our pulpits, have--so many of them of late years--fallen. Onewould think that we would never cast a stone at the South on thatsubject. 

"Some among us seem to think that the power and the opportunity tocommit sin must necessarily be followed by criminal indulgence. They dothemselves no credit in this supposition. They also leave out of view anatural antipathy which must be overcome, sense of degradation, probability of detection, loss of character, conscience, and all themoral restraints which are common to men everywhere; and they only judgethat all who exercise authority over an abject race must, as a generalthing, be polluted. 

"As to opportunities for evil-doing at the South compared with theNorth, no one who walks the streets of a Northern city, by day or night, with the ordinary discernment of one who sets himself to examine themoral condition of a place, will fail to see that we need not go to theSouth to find humiliating proofs of baseness and shame. There is lesssolicitation at the South; here it is a nightly trade, without disguise. At the South the young must go in search of opportunity; here itconfronts them. The small number of yellow children in the interior ofthe Cotton States, on 'lone plantations, ' is positive proof against theready suspicions and accusations of Northern people. Let all be truewhich is said of 'yellow women, ' 'slave-breeders, ' and every form oflechery, he is simple who does not believe that the statistics of acertain wickedness at the North would, if made as public as differenceof color makes the same statistics at the South, leave no room for us toarraign and condemn the South in this particular. Their clergy, theirhusbands, their young men, if they are no better, are no worse than we. But there is nothing in which the self-righteousness created byanti-slavery views and feelings is more conspicuous than in the way inwhich the South is judged and condemned by us with regard to this onesin. Had the pulpits of the South afforded such dreadful instances offrailty, for the last ten or fifteen years, as we have had at the North, what confirmation would we have found for our invectives against thecorrupting and 'barbarous' influence of slavery!

"How the morbid fancy of a Northerner loves to gloat over occasionalinstances of violence at the South, and is never employed in depictingscenes of betrayal and cruelty which our policemen in large cities couldrecount by scores. "

"I saw, " said Mr. North, "in a recent paper, that a slave in WashingtonCounty, N. C. , was hanged by the sheriff in the presence of threethousand spectators, for the murder of a white man, whom he shot with apistol because he suspected him of undue familiarity with the wife ofthe black man. Poor fellow! no doubt he swung for it because he was aslave. He must let his marriage rights be invaded by the whites, andbear it in silence, or die. "

Said I, "What a perfect specimen of Northern anti-slavery feeling andlogic have we in what you now say. If a man, on suspicion of you, takesthe law into his hands and shoots you with a pistol, does he not deserveto die? He does, if he is a white man; perhaps, if he be a slave, thatexcuses him! Even where a man is known to be guilty of the crimereferred to, and the husband shoots him, he is apt to have a narrowescape from being punished. As to bearing such violations of one'srights in silence under intimidation, there is no more power inintimidation to save a villain at the South from disgrace and abhorrencein his community, than at the North. "

"But he can evade prosecution under the statute, " said Mr. North, "moreeasily at the South than here. "

"When you have served on the grand jury a few terms, " said I, "you willbe more charitable toward Southerners. Human nature is the sameeverywhere. It makes, where it does not find, occasion for sin. 

"Now you will not understand, in all that I have said, that I ampleading for slavery, that I desire to have this abject race among us, that Southerners are purer and better than we. We are both under sin. Weall have our temptations and trials; each form of society has its ownkind of facilities for evil; but the grace of God and all the influenceswhich bear on the formation and the preservation of character, are thesame wherever Christianity prevails. "

"Well, after all, " said he, "it must be a semi-barbarous state ofsociety, where such a system is maintained. "

"I shall have to send you, " said I, "to the 'Hotel des Incurables. ' Ithink that your judgments are more than semi-barbarous. If you please toterm even the Southern negroes 'semi-barbarous, ' you may do so; but youare bearing false witness against your neighbor. 

"My dear friend, " said I, "sum up all the evils of the laboring classes, of foreigners and the lower orders of society. Take their miseries, vices, crimes, with all the blessings of freedom and everything else. Get the proportion of evil to the good. Remember that these classes willcontinue to exist among us. Then take the slaves, the lower order at theSouth, as foreigners are with us, and say if, on the whole, theproportion of evil among the slaves is any greater than among thecorresponding classes elsewhere. Do not be an optimist. Acknowledge thatsociety, in this fallen world, must have elements of evil, by reason atleast of imbecility, want of thrift, misfortune, and other things. Youwill not fail to see that slavery with all its evils is, under thecircumstances, by no means, the worst possible condition for the coloredpeople. "

"Well, " said he, "I will think of all you have said. I do not wish to bean ultraist, nor to shut my eyes against truth. You will wish to go tobed; there are some further points on which I would know your views, andwe will, if you please, resume the subject to-morrow. "

CHAPTER VII. 

OWNERSHIP IN MAN. --THE OLD TESTAMENT SLAVERY. 

 "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. "

 HOLY WRIT. 

The rain still poured down in the morning, making it agreeable to usthat we had the prospect of an uninterrupted forenoon for ourconversation. 

So when we found ourselves together again in the course of the forenoon, by the fire, we opened the discussion. 

Mr. North inquired what I understood by the term "owning afellow-creature. "

"I understand by it, " I replied, "a right to use, and to dispose of, theservices of another, wholly at my will. That will must be subject to thewhole law of God, which includes the golden rule. I do not mean by itthat a man owns the body of a man in such a sense that he can maim it atwill, or in any way abuse it. Ownership in men is power to use theirservices and to dispose of them, at will. "

"Now, " said he, "who gives you a right to go to Africa or to a slaveauction and to say to a human being, 'I propose to own you. ' How wouldyou like to have a black man come to you in a solitary place and say, 'My dear Sir, I propose to own you. Henceforth your services aresubject to my will. '?"

"As to Africa, " said I, "and making slaves of those who are now free, wecannot differ. As to the other part of your question, I will carry theillustration a little further, and in doing so, will answer you in part. How would you like to have some Michael O'Connor come to you and say, 'Mr. North, I propose to hire you and pay you wages as my body-servant, or my ostler. ' Why should you not consent? If you do not, why should youhire Mike himself to serve you in either of those capacities? What hasbecome of the golden rule, if you hire a man to do work for you whichyou would not be hired to do?

"You are feasting with a company of friends; and your domestics, below, hear your cheerful talk, and feel the wide difference between your stateand theirs. Why do you not go down and say, 'Dear fellow-creatures, goup and take our places at table, and let us be servants'? Does thegolden rule require that? Inequalities in human conditions are a wiseand benevolent provision for human happiness, so long as men aredependent on one another, as they are and ever must be. Some are soconstituted by an all-wise God that they are happier to be insubordinate situations. Mind is lord; and they, seeing and feeling thesuperiority of others, gladly attach themselves to them as helpers, tobe thought for and protected, and to enjoy their approbation. There isnothing cruel in this, unless it be cruel not to have made all menequal. There are important influences growing out of these relationshipsof superiors and inferiors, --gentleness, kindness, benevolence, in allits forms, on the one hand, and on the other, respect, deference, love, strong attachments and identification of interests. 

"As to the remaining part of your question, let me ask, What nation ortribes are capable of such bondage as the Africans at home inflict andbear? We never had a right to go and steal them, nor to encourage theircaptors in their pillage and violent seizure of the defencelesscreatures; nor do I think that all the blessings which multitudes ofthem have received, for both worlds, in consequence of theirtransportation from Africa, lessens the guilt of slave-traders; nor arethese benefits any justification of the trade, nor do they afford groundfor its continuance. Nothing can justify it. Such is the voice of thehuman conscience everywhere except where covetousness or controversyprevail. 

"But finding these colored people here, the question upon which you andI differ, is, What is our duty with regard to them?

"You say, Set them all free. I reply, The relation of ownership on ourpart toward them is best for all concerned. You say, It is wrong initself. To say this, I think, is to be more righteous than God. "

"Then you maintain, " said he, "that the Most High, in the Bible, countenances all the atrocities of American slavery. "

"What a strange way, " said I, "of arguing, do we very generally findamong anti-slavery men, when their feelings are enlisted, as they are soapt to be. They take unwarrantable, extreme inferences from what we say, and oppose these as logical answers to a statement or argument. 'Auctionblock' and 'Bunker Hill, ' are sufficient answers with them to most ofour reasoning on this subject. But let us look at this point in adispassionate manner. 

"But, " said I, "before I begin I wish to be distinctly understood asholding this doctrine; namely, The Bible does not justify us in reducingmen to bondage at our will. God might appoint that certain tribes shouldbe slaves to others; but before we proceed to reduce men to slavery, ourwarrant for it must be clear. 

"If, however, slavery is found by a certain generation among them, andit is not right and just nor expedient to abolish it, may we not safelyask, How did the Most High legislate concerning slavery among the peopleto whom he gave a code of laws from his own lips?

"Learning this, we must then consider whether circumstances in our daywarrant, or require, different rules and regulations. 

"But our inquiry into the divine legislation respecting slavery, willdisclose some things which draw largely upon one's implicit faith in thedivine goodness; and if a man is disposed to be a sceptic and hisanti-slavery feelings are strong, here is a stone on which, if thatanti-slavery man falls, he shall be broken, but if it falls on him, itshall grind him to powder. 

"You will acknowledge this, if you will allow me to speak further onthis subject. 

"Did you ever notice, " said I, "with what words Christ concludes hisenunciation of the golden rule? They are a remarkable answer to ourmodern infidels, who impugn the Old Testament as far behind the New inits moral standard. After declaring that the rule by which we shouldtreat others is self-love, the Saviour says, --'for this is the Law andthe Prophets. ' So there was nothing in the Law and Prophets inconsistentwith the golden rule. The golden rule therefore marks the history ofdivine legislation from the beginning; and if God appointed slavery, heordained nothing in connection with it which was inconsistent withequal love to one's self and to a neighbor. 

"This deserves to be considered by those who, finding slavery in the OldTestament appointed by God, begin, as it were, to exculpate their Makerby saying that the Hebrews were a rude, semi-barbarous people, and thatdivine legislation was wisely accommodated to their moral capacity. Nowit is singular, if this be so, that the Mosaic code should be the basis, as it is, of all good legislation everywhere. The effort to make theHebrew people and their code appear inferior, in order to excuseslavery, is one illustration of the direful effect which anti-slaveryprinciples have had in lowering the respect of many for the Bible, andloosening its hold upon their consciences. Now it is to me a perfectrelief on this subject of slavery in the Old Testament, to know that Godappointed nothing in the relation of his people to men of any class orcondition which his people in a change of circumstances, might not bewilling should be administered to them. If slavery was ordained of Godto the Hebrews, it must, therefore, have been benevolent. If we startwith the doctrine that 'Slavery is the sum of all villanies, ' no wonderthat we find it necessary to use extenuating words and a sort ofapologetic, protecting manner of treating the divine oracles. After allit is evidently hard work, with many anti-slavery men to maintain thatreverence for the Old Testament and that confidence in God which theyfeel are required of them. So they lay all the responsibility ofimperfection in the divine conduct, to the 'semi-barbarous Hebrews!'--apeople by the way, whose first leader combined in himself a greatervariety, and a higher order, of talent, than any other man in history. As military commander, poet, historian, judge, legislator, who is to benamed in comparison with the man Moses?

"We must come to the conclusion, " said I, "that the relation ofownership is not only not sinful, but that it is in itself benevolent, that it had a benevolent object; for its origin was certainlybenevolent. "

"What was its origin?" said Mrs. North; "I always had a desire to knowhow slavery first came into existence. "

"Blackstone tells us, " I replied, "that its origin was in the right of acaptor to commute the death of his captives with bondage. The laws ofwar give the conqueror a right to destroy his enemies; if he sees fit tospare their lives in consideration of their serving him, this is alsohis right. Thus, we suppose, slavery gained its existence. 

"True, its very nature partakes of our fallen condition; it is not aparadisiacal institution; it is not good in itself; it is anaccompaniment of the loss which we have incurred by sin. In that lightit is proper to speak of the Most High as adapting his legislation tothe depraved condition of man; but that is no more true of slavery thanof redemption; everything in the treatment of us by the Almighty is anexponent of our departure from our first estate. "

"Now, " said Mrs. North, "all this is a relief to me; for I have alwaysbeen sorely tried by remarks seemingly impugning the divine wisdom andgoodness, whenever slavery in the Bible has been under discussion. "

"Please give us an outline, " said Mr. North, "of the Hebrew legislationon this subject. " He handed me a Bible. 

"I will try and not be tedious, " said I, "and will repeat to you in fewwords the principal points of the Hebrew Code, with regard toinvoluntary servitude. 

 * * * * *

"Slavery is the first thing named in the law given at Sinai, after themoral law and a few simple directions as to altars. This is noticeable. In the twenty-first chapter of Exodus, and in the twenty-fifth chapterof Leviticus, we find the Hebrew slave-code. The following is a summaryof it:--

"1. Hebrews themselves might be bought and sold by Hebrews; but for sixyears only, at farthest. If the jubilee year occurred at any time duringthese six years, it cut short the term of service. 

"2. Hebrew paupers were an exception to this rule. They could beretained till the year of jubilee next ensuing. 

"3. Hebrew servants, married in servitude, if they went out free in theseventh, or in the jubilee year, must go out alone, leaving their wiveswhich their masters had given them, and their children by these wives, (if any, ) behind them, as their masters' possession. If, however, theychose to remain with their wives and children, the ear of the servantwas bored with an awl to the door-post, and his servitude becameperpetual. 

"4. Hebrew servants might also, from love to their masters, in likemanner and by the same ceremony, become servants forever. 

"5. Strangers and sojourners among the Hebrews, 'waxing rich, ' wereallowed to buy Hebrews who were 'waxen poor, ' and who were at liberty tosell themselves to these sojourners or to the family of these strangers. The jubilee year, however, terminated this servitude. The price of salewas graduated according to the number of years previous to the jubileeyear. The kindred of the servant had the right of redeeming him, theprice being regulated in the same way. 

"6. In all these cases in which Hebrews were bought and sold, there werespecial injunctions that they should not be treated 'with rigor, ' thereason assigned by the Most High being substantially the same in allcases, namely, 'For unto me the children of Israel are servants; theyare my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am theLord your God. '

"7. Liberal provision was to be made for the Hebrew servant at thetermination of his servitude. During his term of service, he was to beregarded and treated 'as an hired servant and a sojourner. '

"8. Bondmen and bondmaids, as property, without limitation of time, andtransmissible as inheritance to children, might be bought of surroundingnations. The children of sojourners also could be thus acquired. Tothese the seventh year's and the fiftieth year's release did not apply. 

"Now, Mr. North, " said I, "let me proceed to try your faith somewhat. Iwill see whether your confidence in divine revelation is sound, fornothing at the present day has overthrown the faith of many like themanifest teachings of the Bible with regard to slavery. You have feltthat the Hebrew code is better than ours, so far as it relates to slaveswho were Hebrews. As to the slaves from the heathen, we infer that theymet 'with rigor, ' or at least were liable to it; for God continuallyenjoins it upon the Hebrews that they shall not use rigor with theirbrethren. 

"Now let me mention some things which will try your faith in revelation, if you are an abolitionist. 

"The Hebrews were allowed to sell their servants to other people. 

"Thus they traded in flesh and blood. This was prohibited in the case ofa Hebrew maid-servant, whom a man had bought and had made her hisconcubine. If she did not please him, it was said that--'to sell herunto a strange nation he shall have no power. ' The inference is thatthey sold their Gentile slaves, if they pleased, 'to a strange nation. 'Again. When a father or mother became poor, their creditor could taketheir children for servants. Thus you read: 'Now there cried a certainwoman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying, Thyservant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fearthe Lord; and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to bebondmen. ' This was according to the law of Moses, in the twenty-fifth ofLeviticus; 'bondmen, ' however, meaning here a servant for a term ofyears. See also the New Testament parable of the unforgiving servant. 

"This was hard, it will seem to you and to all of us, that if one becamepoor in Israel, his children could be attached. Thus the idea ofinvoluntary servitude, where no crime was, prevailed in the Theocracy. 

"But we come now to something which draws harder upon our faith. 

"We find the Most High prescribing, Exodus xxi. 20, 21, that a masterwho kills his servant under chastisement shall be punished (but not putto death); and if the servant survives a day or two, the master shallnot even be 'punished' for the death of his slave!

"The reason which the Most High gives is this: '_For he is his money_'!

"A human being, 'money'! An immortal soul, 'money'! God's image, 'money'! And this the reasoning, these the very words of my Maker! Is itnot astonishing, if your principles are correct, that there has been nocontroversy for ages against this? and that the Bible, with suchpassages in it should have retained its hold on the human mind? 'He ishis money'! It would have been no different had it read: 'He is hiscotton. ' You see that the Most High recognized 'ownership, ' 'property inman. ' Why is it said, 'He is his money'? Poole (Synopsis) says, --'thatis, his possession bought with money; and therefore 1. Had a power tochastise him according to his merit, which might be very great. 2. Issufficiently punished with his own loss. 3. May be presumed not to havedone this purposely or maliciously. '

"Either and all of which explanations, or any other which can be given, only bring more clearly to view the idea of 'money' as a reason why themaster is not to be punished, for causing the death of a slave bywhipping, if the slave happens to continue a day or two, no matter underwhat mutilations and sufferings. 

"Furthermore. We find the Most High decreeing perpetual bondage incertain cases, and more than all, as we have seen, _the forcibleseparation of husband and wife_ among slaves. Let me turn to Exodus xxi. And read:--

 "'1. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 

 "'2. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 

 "'3. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 

 "'4. If his master have given him a wife and she have borne him sons or daughters, _the wife and her children shall be her master's_, and he shall go out by himself. '

"I have not finished my reading, " said I; "but what do you say to that, Mr. North?"

"Read on, " said he. 

 "'5. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free:

 "'6. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges, he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. '

"God decreed, therefore, that the marriage of a slave in bondage, inthose days, was dissoluble, as no other marriage was. Divorces among theHebrews, allowed for the hardness of their hearts, were not parallel tothe forcible separation of a slave from his wife under the hardnecessity of choice between perpetual bondage with a wife, or freedomwithout her. The merciful God who kindly enacted, 'No man shall take thenether nor the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life topledge, ' and that a garment pawned should be restored before sundown, that wages should not be withheld over night, yes, the God wholegislated about bird's-nests ordained the dissolution of the marriagetie between slaves in certain cases, unless the slave husband waswilling for his wife's sake, to be a slave forever!

"What do you say to this, Mr. North?" I asked again. 

Said Mrs. North, "I begin to see the origin and cause of infidelityamong the abolitionists. "

"Tell me, " said Mr. North, "how you view it. "

"On stating this, once, " said I, "in a public meeting, I raised aclamor. Three or four men sprung to their feet, and one of them, whofirst caught the chairman's eye, cried out, his face turning red, hiseyes starting from their sockets, his fist clenched, 'I demand of thegentleman whether he means to approve of all the abominations ofAmerican slavery! Is he in favor of separating husbands and wives, parents and children? Let us know it, Sir, if it be so. No wonder thatstrong anti-slavery men turn infidels when they hear Christian mendefending American slavery from the Bible. No wonder that they say, "Thetimes demand, and we must have, an anti-slavery constitution, ananti-slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God. " Mr. Moderator, will thegentleman answer my question, --Do you mean to approve all the atrocitiesof American slavery, on the ground that the Bible countenances them?'

"I was never more calm in my life. I replied, 'Mr. Chairman, taking formy warrant an inspired piece of advice as to the best way of answering aman according to his folly, it would be just, should I reply to thegentleman's question, Yes, I do. But the gentleman, I perceive, is toomuch excited to hear me. '

"He had flung himself round in his seat, put his elbow on the back ofit, and his hand through his hair; he then flung himself round in theopposite direction, and put his arm and hand as before, and he blew hisnose with a sound like a trombone. 

"I then said, 'Mr. Chairman, if all that the gentleman meant to ask was, Do you find any countenance under any circumstances, for the relation ofmaster and slave in the divine legation of Moses, --and this was allwhich, as a fair man, not carried away by a gust of passion, he shouldhave asked me, --my answer was correct and proper. If he wished to knowmy views of what is right and proper as to the marriage relation of ourslaves, he should have put the question in a different shape. But first, Sir, ' said I, 'if he dislikes the twenty-first chapter of Exodus, hiscontroversy must be with his God, not with me. Sinai was, let me remindhim, more of a place than Bunker Hill. I am not a friend of "oppression"any more than the gentleman; but I trust that had I lived in Israel, Ishould never have thought of being more humane than my Maker. '

"I then proceeded to say that (as before remarked to you) we are notwarranted by the Bible to make men slaves when we please; nor, ifslavery exists, are we commanded to adopt the rules and regulations ofHebrew slavery. 

"But we do learn from the Bible that property in man is not in itselfsinful, --not even to say of a man, 'He is my money. '

"Were it intrinsically wrong, God would not have legislated about it insuch ways; for granting, if you please, the untenable distinction abouthis 'not appointing' slavery, but 'finding it in existence' andlegislating for it, what necessity could there have been for making sucha law as that relating to the boring of the ear, rather than giving theslave his wife and children and suffering them all to go free?

"No, Mr. North, " said I, continuing our conversation, "I cannot opposethe relation of master and slave as in itself sinful; for then I becomemore righteous than God. But I must inquire whether it is right, in eachgiven case, to reduce men to bondage: shall that be, for example, themode in which prisoners of war shall be disposed of? or a subjugatedpeople? or criminals? or, in certain cases, debtors? In doing so, thereis no intrinsic sin; the act itself, under the circumstances, may beexceedingly sinful; but the relation of ownership is not necessarily asin. This, I hold, is all that can be deduced from the Bible in favor ofslavery: The relation is not in itself sinful. "

"But, " said Mr. North, "we sinned in stealing these people from Africa;all sin should be immediately forsaken; therefore, set the slaves freeat once. "

I replied, "Let us apply that principle. You and I, and a large companyof passengers, are in a British ship, approaching our coast. We findout, all at once, that the crew and half of the passengers stole theship. We gain the ascendency; we can do as we please. Now, as all sinmust be repented of at once, it is the duty of the passengers and crewto put the ship about, and deliver it to the owners in Glasgow! Perhapswe should not think it best to put in force the '_ruat coelum_'doctrine, especially if we had had some '_ruat coelum_' storms, and itwas late in the season. But then we should actually be enjoying thestolen property--the ship and its comforts--for several days, with thebelief that benevolence and justice to all concerned required us toreach the end of the voyage before we took measures to perform thatjustice, which, before, would have been practical folly. 

"Now, please, do not require this illustration to go on all fours. Allthat I mean is this: A right thing may be wrong, if done unseasonably, or in disregard of circumstances which have supervened. 

"But to go a little further, and beyond mere expediency: Can you see nodifference between buying slaves, and making men slaves? While it wouldbe wicked for you to reduce people to slavery, is that the same asbecoming owners to those who are already in slavery? In one case, youcould not apply the golden rule; in the other, the golden rule wouldabsolutely compel you, in many instances, to buy slaves. Go to almostany place where slaves are sold, and they will come to you, if they likeyour looks, and, by all the arts of persuasion, entreat you to becometheir master. Having succeeded, step behind the scenes, if you can, andhear them exulting that they 'fetched more' than this or that man. Isthere no difference between this and reducing free people to slavery?"

"Say yes, husband, " said Mrs. North, "or I must say it for you. "

"So that, let me add, " said I, "in opposing slavery, I am necessarilyconfined to the evils and abuses committed in the relationship ofmaster. But, even in doing this, why should I be meddlesome? We have amost offensive air and manner in our behavior towards Southerners, inconnection with their duties as masters. It is perfectly disgusting. Imay oppose slavery, on the grounds of political economy or for nationalreasons. But if I mix up with it wrathful opposition to the sin, socalled, or the unrighteousness of holding property in man, it has nocountenance in the Bible. If I speak of it publicly, as a system fraughtwith evil, I must discriminate; or they whom I would influence, knowingthat I am mistaken, will regard me as an infatuated enemy, who willeffect more injury than I can repair. As to Mr. Jefferson's testimony, there are as good and conscientious men at the South in our day asThomas Jefferson. Mr. Calhoun was as worthy a witness in all respects. "

"Now tell us, " said Mrs. North, "your sober convictions, apart from thisNorthern controversy, about that twenty-first chapter of Exodus, whereGod directs that slaves, in certain cases, shall be slaves forever; and, moreover, in certain cases, that slave husbands may have their wives andchildren withheld from them, and the husbands leave them forever. How doyou reconcile this with the justice and goodness of God?"

I said to her, "To make the case fully appear, before we converse uponit, hear this passage, Leviticus XXV. 44-46:--'Both thy bondmen, and thybondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are roundabout you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. ' So, in the nextverses, 'The children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, ofthem shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which theybegat in your land; and they shall be your possession: And ye shall takethem as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them fora possession; they shall be your bondmen forever; but over yourbrethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over anotherwith rigor. '

"Here, and in all the divine legislation on this subject, a distinctionis made between Hebrews who became slaves, and slaves who wereforeigners, or of foreign extraction, though resident in Israel. Slavesof Hebrew extraction might go free after six years, and upon the deathof the owner; and in every jubilee year they must all return to freedom, and be free from every disability by reason of bondage, except where theear was bored. 

"Not so with the slaves of foreign extraction; nor even with the Hebrewwhose ear was bored, provided his wife was given him in slavery, and hehad elected to live with her rather than be free. Not even upon thedeath of the owner could such slaves be manumitted, as was the caseordinarily with regard to Hebrew slaves; but property in these Gentileslaves, and in Hebrew slaves reduced to the same condition, God ordainedshould be an 'inheritance, ' passing down forever from father to child. 

"No jubilee trumpet was to cheer their hearts. Think what the jubileemorning must have been to those slaves in hopeless bondage, if bondagewere necessarily such as many fancy. Our abolitionists represent thebells and guns of our Fourth of July to be a hideous mockery in the earsof the slaves; and multitudes of our good people ludicrously fancy themas most miserable on that day, by the contrast of their enslavedcondition with our boasted Independence. Let us borrow this fancy, andapply it to the Hebrew slave. 

"The jubilee trumpets, and all the joyous scenes of the fiftieth year inIsrael, caused multitudes of slaves in Israel, we will suppose, toreflect, This Jehovah, God of Israel, has doomed us to hopeless bondage. We are guilty of having been born so many degrees south or north, eastor west, of these Hebrews. We, by God's providence, are Gentiles. Ourchiefs sold us, and these Hebrews bought us. We were betrayed; we weredriven out of our homes; unjust wars were made upon us, to make uscaptives, that we might be sold. And 'the Lord's people' bought us, byhis special edict (Lev. Xxv. 44). Our brother-servants, unfortunateHebrews, get released in the jubilee year, except these poor creatureswho were so unfortunate as to be married in slavery, and, not beingwilling to be divorced, had their ears fastened, with the ignominious'awl, ' to their master's door-post. God could have ordained that they, with their wives and children, and we, with ours, should have release inthe fiftieth year. But, no! our bondage is forever, and so is theirs;and our children and their children are to be servants forever. But wehold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are born free and equal, and have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness. Slavery is the sum of all villanies. Our master's will is ourlaw; we are subject to his passions; we are chattels; we 'are hismoney. ' This is the language of your God, --the God whom you worship; andnot only so, but you circumcise us to worship Him!

"Some benevolent Levite, jealous for the character of his Maker, replies, 'But God did not institute slavery; He found it in existence, and he only legislates about it, and regulates it. '

"A thousand groans are the prelude to the withering answer which theslaves make to this apology for oppression. 

"'He broke your bonds, it seems, ' they cry, 'in Egypt, and in the RedSea. Did He "find slavery" on the opposite shore of the Red Sea? Why didhe not merely "legislate for it, and regulate it?" No, He enacted it. How dare you apologize for your God with such a miserable pretext? Hemade the ordinance separating a husband from wife and children, unlessthe husband would submit to the indignity of having his ear bored and tothe doom of perpetual bondage, in case his wife was a Gentile. If hegoes away, he must leave his wife and children. Great indulgence haveyou in multiplying wives; that is winked at "for the hardness of yourhearts;" but the poor Hebrew must abandon his wife and family if hechooses freedom! They are his master's "property, " "his money, " and Godgave the servant these children, knowing that they would be the"property" of another, and that he would have no unencumbered right tothem; and down through all ages they and their descendants must beservants. And now you tell us, "God did not institute" this! He only"found it!" He "regulated it!" Come, blow up your trumpet, reverendLevite! Go, worship the God of whom you feel half ashamed. Do not ask usto worship and love a Being who is bound by the laws of fate so that hecannot do otherwise, if he would, than make one of us a slave forever, while the man who grinds with me at the same mill, goes with his wifeand children, forever free!'"

"Those remarks have the true Boston tone, " said Mrs. North. 

"Yes, " said I, "there were brave men before Agamemnon, Horace tells us. There is slavery forever, " said I, "or the separation of husband andwife, father and children, unless the man would be a slave forever. What'partings' there must have been! What struggles in those who concludedto take the fatal 'awl' through their ears, before they could make uptheir minds to be slaves forever. See the hardship of the case. If theman 'loves his wife and children, ' he may be a slave; that love wouldmake him spend and be spent for them in freedom, in his humble home, amid the sweets of liberty; but no; if he loves his wife he must takethe bitter draught of slavery with his love. But if he hates her and hischildren, he may be free! What a bounty on conjugal fickleness, onunnatural treatment of offspring!"

"Was there no Canada?" said Mrs. North, biting off her thread. "O, Irecollect; Hagar went there. I wonder if the angel who remanded her wasremoved from office, on his return to heaven. "

"Come, wife, " said Mr. North, "there is such a thing as being convertedtoo much. Please, Sir, will you answer the question as to theconsistency of all this with the divine wisdom and goodness?"

"That, " said I, "is not the question which you wish to ask. "

"I do not understand you, " said he; "please to explain. "

"You wish to ask, " said I, "how I reconcile these things with yournotions of wisdom and benevolence. "

"Why, " said he, "I have my ideas of divine wisdom and goodness, and Iwish to make these things square with them. "

"And that, " said I, "is just the rock on which you all split. Your ideasof the divine goodness must be based on a complete view of the revealedcharacter and conduct of God. But you and your friends say, 'this andthat ought to be, or ought not to be, ' and you try your Maker by thatmeasure. Now I say, 'he that reproveth God, let him answer it. ' Are notthe things which I have quoted, parts of divine revelation, as much asthe flood and the passover?"

"I see that they are, " said Mr. North. 

"Do you believe that God is a spirit infinite, eternal, unchangeable, inhis being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth?"

"I do, " said he. 

"You believe this notwithstanding the apostasy, the destruction of Sodomand Gomorrah, the flood, and the extirpation of the Canaanites. "

"I do, " said he, "so long as I receive the Bible as the Word of God. "

"I think, " said Mrs. North, "that the loss of the 'Central America' withher four hundred passengers, tries my faith in God full as much as aheathen's having his ear bored to spend his days with his wife andchildren among God's covenant people. "

"Then you do not worship the Goddess of Liberty, Mrs. North, " saidI. --"'Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it. But if thoumayest be made free, use it rather. '"

"That, " said she, "seems to express my idea about bondage and freedom. Of course it is not, theoretically, a blessing to be a slave. It may be, practically, to some. But what strikes me oftentimes is the utterinability of an abolitionist to say to a slave, under any circumstances, 'Care not for it. ' His doctrine, rather, is, 'Art thou called being aservant? If thou hast a Sharpe's rifle, or a John Brown's pike, use itrather. ' Or, 'Art thou called being a servant? If thou canst run forCanada, use it rather. ' Paul had not an abolitionist mind, that is veryclear. But, " she continued, "do relieve my husband and enlighten mealso, by giving us your views about the Old Testament slavery, which Ipresume you can do without seeming to arraign the character of God. "

I replied, "This is a sinful race, and we are treated as such. Slaveryis one of God's chastisements. Instead of destroying every wicked nationby war, pestilence, or famine, he grants some of them a reprieve, andcommutes their punishment from death to bondage. Those whom he allowedto be slaves to his people Israel were highly favored; they enjoyed ablessing which came to them disguised by the sable cloud of servitude;but in their endless happiness many of them will bless God for thebondage which joined them to the nation of Israel. 

"I look upon our slaves as being here by a special design ofProvidence, for some great purpose, to be disclosed at the right time. Unless I take this view of it, I am embarrassed and greatly troubled;'perplexed, but not in despair. ' The great design of Providence in nowise abates the sin of those who brought the slaves here, nor does itwarrant us in getting more of them. While this is true, I cannot resistthe thought that God has a controversy with this black race which is notyet finished. I believe that God withholds from them a spirit and tempersuited for freedom till he shall have finished his marvellous designs. His destiny with the Jew, as a nation, to the present day, is anotherillustration of his mysterious providence with regard to a people. 

"As to the enactment which made the Hebrew servant a slave for life, thus dooming even one of the covenant people to perpetual bondage, if hehad married in slavery, I see in it several things most clearly. 

"You will have noticed that in every case in which a Hebrew was made aservant, poverty was the ground of it. 'If thy brother be waxen poor, 'he could sell himself, either to a Hebrew or to a resident alien. He andhis children could also be taken for debt. This seems to us oppressive. 

"Let a family among us be reduced, from any cause, to a condition inwhich they cannot maintain themselves, and what follows? The childrenfind employment, some of them in families, in various kinds of domesticservice. Indented apprenticeships in this commonwealth are within thememory of all who are forty or fifty years of age. We remember the veryfrequent advertisements: 'One cent reward. Ran away from the subscriber, an indented apprentice, ' etc. The descriptions of such fugitives, allfor the sake of absolving the master from liability for the abscondingboy, and sometimes the hunt that was made, with dogs to scent histracks, when his return was desired, are far within the memory of theoldest inhabitant. 

"In Israel, this descent of a family from a prosperous to a decayedstate, and the consequent servitude, were used by the Most High tocultivate some of the best feelings of our nature. It touched the finestsensibilities of the soul. Let me read from the fifteenth ofDeuteronomy:--

 "'And if thy brother, an Hebrew man or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 

 "'And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty. 

 "'Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to-day. 

 "'And if it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee, "'Then thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also with thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise. 

 "'It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee: for he hath been worth a doubled hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. '

"Is not this very beautiful and touching, Mrs. North?"

She said nothing, but hid her face in her little babe's neck, pretending to kiss it. But Mr. North wiped his eyes. "There is not muchbarbarism in that, " said he. 

"The golden rule, " said I; "for this is the law and the prophets. 

"The people to whom these touching precepts were given by the Most High, and who were susceptible to these finest appeals, are, as we have said, sometimes represented as a semi-barbarous people, so gross that God wasobliged to let them hold slaves! Now, could anything be more civilizing, refining, elevating, than such relationships as this limited servitudeof poor Hebrews created? What scenes there must have been oftentimes, when the six years were out, and the servant was about to depart, ladenwith gifts! And what a scene when, with strong attachment to the family, the servant declined to be free, and went to the door-post to have hisear pierced with the awl, to be a servant, and not only so, but to be aninheritance forever!

"Is this 'the sum of all villanies, ' Mr. North?" said I. "Yet it is'slavery. ' 'Auction-blocks, ' 'whippings, ' 'roastings, ' 'separations offamilies, ' are not 'slavery. ' They are its abuses; slavery can existwhen they cease. I pray you, is such slavery as the God of the Hebrewsappointed, in such cases as these, 'forever, ' an unmitigated curse?

"Now, " said I, "go through our Southern country, and you will find inevery city, town, and village just such relationships between the whitesand the blacks as must have existed where these Hebrew laws had effect. Think of the little slave-babe, and the Southern lady's letter, whichhave given occasion to all our conversation. The Gospel, as it subduesand softens the human heart, will make the relationship of involuntaryservitude everywhere to be after this pattern. Instead of excitinghatred and jealousy, and provoking war between the whites and blacks, Iam for bringing all the influences of the Gospel to bear upon the heartsof the white population, to convert them into such masters as Godenjoined the Hebrews to be, and such as the Apostle to the Gentilesenjoined upon Gentile slave-holders as their models. And I am filledwith sorrow and astonishment as I see some of the very best and mostbeloved men among us at the North withholding missionaries and tractsfrom the Southern country, and--as Gustavus's aunt said some of thesedo--calling it 'standing up for Jesus!'

"Now, " said I, "if such were the injunctions of the Most High as to themanner in which the Hebrews should treat their Hebrew slaves, it is easyto see that such a habit with regard to them would serve greatly tomitigate the sorrows of bondage on the part of Gentile slaves. And thusthe curse of slavery, like sin, and even death, is made, under theinfluences of religion, a means of improvement, a source of blessing. Let but the sun shine on a pile of cloud, and what folds of beauty anddeep banks of snowy whiteness does it set forth, and, at the close ofday, all the exquisite tints which make the artist despair are flungprofusely upon that mass of vapor which but for the sun were a heap ofsable cloud. 

"The minister, " said I, "who, Hattie tells us, classed 'Abraham theslave-holder' with the 'murderer, ' and the 'liar and swearer, ' knew notwhat he did. People who laugh and titter at the 'patriarchalinstitution, ' need to peruse the laws of Moses again, with a spirit akinto their beautiful tone; and those who say that to hold a fellow-man asproperty is 'sin, ' are not 'wiser than Daniel, ' but they make themselveswiser than God. 

"All who sustain the relationship of owner to a human being, " said I, "do well to read these injunctions of the Most High, as very many ofthem do, applying them to themselves. And it is also profitable to readhow that a violation of these very slave-laws was, in after years, onegreat cause of the divine wrath upon the Hebrews. You will find, in thethirty-fourth of Jeremiah, that, not content with having Gentile slaves, the Hebrews violated the law requiring them to release each his Hebrewslaves once in seven years. 

"'I made a covenant with your fathers, ' God says, 'in the day that Ibrought them forth out of the land of Egypt, saying, At the end of sevenyears let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew which hath been soldunto thee. But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man hisservant to return, and brought them unto subjection. Ye have nothearkened unto me in proclaiming a liberty every one to hisbrother;--behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to thesword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. '

"Thus it is evident that the relation of master and servant wasoriginally ordained and instituted by God as a benevolent arrangement toall concerned, --not 'winked at, ' or 'suffered, ' like polygamy, butordained, --that it was full of blessings to all who fulfilled the dutiesof the relation in the true spirit of the institution; and, moreover, itis true that there are few curses which will be more intolerable thanthey will suffer who make use of their fellow-men, in the image of God, for the purposes of selfishness and sin; while those who feel theiraccountableness in this relation, and discharge it in the spirit of theBible, will find their hearts refined and ennobled, and the relationshipwill be, to all concerned, a source of blessings whose influences willbring peace to their souls when the grave of the slave and that of hisowner are looking up into the same heavens from the common earth. "

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE TENURE. 

 "One part, one little part, we dimly scan Through the dark medium of life's fevering dream; Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan If but that little part incongruous seem; Nor is that part, perhaps, what mortals deem; Oft from apparent ill our blessings rise. "--BEATTIE, _Minstrel_. 

Mr. North then said, "Let us change the subject a little. Please to tellus why, in your view, any slave who is so disposed may not run away. Would you not do so, if you were a slave, and were oppressed, or thoughtthat you could mend your condition? Where did my master get his rightand title to me? God did not institute American slavery as he didslavery among the Hebrews. If I were a slave to certain masters, Southor North, I should probably run away at all hazards. I should not stopto debate the morality of the act. No human being would, in his heartblame me. It would be human nature, resisting under the infliction ofpain. We catch hold of a dentist's hand when he is drawing a tooth. Perhaps there may be found some moral law against doing so!"

"But we are apt, " said I, "to take these exceptional cases, and make arule that includes them and all others. I have been present whenintelligent gentlemen, Northerners and Southerners, have discussed thissubject in the most friendly manner, though with great earnestness. OnceI remember we spent an evening discussing the subject. I will, if youplease, tell you about the conversation. 

"I must take you, then, to an old mansion at the South, around which, and at such a distance from each other as to reveal a fine prospect, stood a growth of noble elms, a lawn spreading itself out before thehouse, and the large hall, or entry, serving for a tea-room, where sevenor eight gentlemen, and as many ladies were assembled. 

"A Southern physician, who had no slaves, took the ground that all theslaves had a right to walk off whenever they pleased. He did not see whywe should hold them in bondage rather than they us, so far as right andjustice were concerned. Some of the slave-holders were evidently muchtroubled in their thoughts, and did not speak strongly. My own feelingsat first went with the physician and with his arguments; but I saw thathe was not very clear, nor deep, and his friends who partly yielded tohim, seemed to do so rather under the influence of conscientiousfeelings, than from any very well defined principles. This is the casewith not a few at the South, and it was very common in ThomasJefferson's days. But the large majority, who were of the contraryopinion, got the advantage in the argument, and it seemed to me went fartoward convincing the physician, as they did me, that he was wrong. 

"The company all seemed to look toward a judge who was present, to openthe discussion with a statement of his views. He did so by saying, forsubstance, as follows:--

"'I will take it for granted, ' said he, 'that we are agreed as to theunlawfulness of the slave-trade, past and present. We find the blackshere, as we come upon the stage. We are born into this relationship. Itis an existing form of government in the Slave States. 

"'Ownership in man is not contrary to the will of God. I also find itwritten that "Canaan shall be a servant. " Hear these words ofinspiration: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be untohis brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaanshall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell inthe tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. " As the Japheticrace is to dwell in the tents of Shem, for example, England occupyingIndia, so I believe the black race is under the divine sentence ofservitude. Moreover, being perfectly convinced of the wrongfulness andthe infinite mischief to all concerned of the forcible liberation of ourslaves, I am assisted in settling, in my own mind, the question as to meright of individual slaves to escape from service, and our right tocontinue in this relationship, conforming ourselves in it always to thegolden rule. 

"'If it be the right of one, under ordinary circumstances, to depart, itis the right of all. But the government under which they live, in thiscommonwealth, recognizes slavery. The constitution and the generalgovernment protect us in maintaining it. The right of our servants toleave us at pleasure, which could not of course be done withoutviolence, on both sides, implies the right of insurrection. It isimpossible to define the cases in which insurrection is justifiable, butthe general rule is that it is wrong. Government is a divine ordinance;men cannot capriciously overthrow or change it, at every turn of affairswhich proves burdensome or even oppressive. God is jealous to maintainhuman government as an important element in his own administration. Menjustly in authority, or established in it by time, or by consent, or bynecessity, or by expediency, may properly feel that they are God'svicegerents. He is on their side; a parent, a teacher, a commander, --inshort, he who rules, is, as it were, dispensing a law of the divinegovernment, as truly as though he directed a force in nature. Hence, todisturb existing government is, in the sight of God, a heinous offence, unless circumstances plainly justify a revolution; otherwise, one mightas well think to interfere with impunity and change the equinoxes, orthe laws of refraction. It is well to consider what forms of government, and what forms of oppression under them, existed, when that divine wordwas written: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Forthere is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God;and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. " This waswritten in view of the throne of the Caesars. 

"'But it is very clear that when a people are in a condition toestablish and maintain another form of government, there is no sin intheir turning themselves into a new condition. In doing so, government, God's ordinance, evolves itself under a new form, and provided it is, really, government, and not anarchy, no sin may have been committed bythe insurrection, or revolution, as an act. The result proved thatgovernment still existed, potentially, and was only changing its shapeand adapting itself to the circumstances of the people. If a man or bodyof men assert that things among them are ready for such new evolutions, and so undertake to bring them about, they do it at their peril, andfailing, they are indictable for treason; they may be true patriots, they may be conscientious men; the sympathies of many good people may bewith them, but they have sinned against the great law which protectsmankind from anarchy. 

"'To apply this, ' said the Judge, 'to our subject, --When the time comesthat the blacks can truly say, "We are now your equals in all that isnecessary to constitute a civil state, and we propose to take thegovernment of this part of the country into our hands, " we should stillmake several objections, which would be valid. The Constitutions of theStates and of the United States must be changed before that can be done, and we will presume that this would involve a revolution. Moreover, thiscountry belongs to the Anglo-Saxon race, with which foreigners ofkindred stocks have intermingled, and they and we object to the presenceof a black race as possessors of some of the states of the Union, evenif it were constitutional. We do not propose to abandon our right andtitle to the soil, without a civil war, which would probably result inthe extermination of one or the other party. If you are able to leave usat pleasure, the proper way will be to do it peaceably, and on justprinciples, to be agreed upon between us. 

"'No such exigency as this, ' said the Judge, 'is possible. It would beprevented or anticipated, and relief would be obtained while thenecessity was on the increase and before it reached a solemn crisis. 

"'One of three ways will, in my opinion, ' said he, 'bring a solution tothis problem of slavery. 

"'One is, the insurrection of the slaves, the massacre of the whites, and the forcible seizure and possession of power by the blacksthroughout the South. This would be a scene such as the earth has neverwitnessed. I have no fear that it can ever happen. But, ' said he, addressing me, 'I presume that I know, Sir, how your people in the FreeStates, to a very considerable extent, think on this point. I willspeak, by-and-by, of the other two ways in which slavery may find itsgreat result. One, I say, is, by insurrection and then the exterminationof the black race; for that would surely follow their temporary successif I can trust my apprehensions of the subject. '

"'Please, sir, ' said I, 'let me hear what you think is 'veryconsiderably' the sentiment at the North on this subject ofinsurrection. '

"'I presume sir, ' said he, 'if the slaves should, some night, takepossession of us, and demand a universal manumission, and we shouldrefuse, and fire and sword and pillage and all manner of violence shouldensue, and our persons and property should be at their will, vastmultitudes of your people, including clergymen, would exclaim that theday of God's righteous vengeance had come, and they would say, Amen. '

"'So we interpret Thomas Jefferson's idea, ' said I. 

"'I think, Sir, ' said he, 'that very many reasonable people of the Northare of opinion that all the attributes of God are against any suchprocedure. 

"'In the large sense in which nations speak to each other when they areasserting their rights, there is no objection to the first clause in theDeclaration of Independence; but when you come to the people of a state, and one portion of that people rise and assert their right to break upthe constitution of things under which they live, there is no morepertinency in that clause in the Declaration than there would be ingiving us the reason for a revolution that all men are not far from fiveor six feet high. What they say may be true in the abstract, but itdoes not prove that men, having come into a state of society, involuntarily, if you please, have all the freedom and equality whichthey would have, if they were each an independent savage in thewilderness. Society is God's ordinance, not a compact. We have, all ofus, lost some of our freedom and equality in the social state; now howfar is it right that the blacks, being here, no matter how or why, should lose some of theirs? and how far is it right that we should takeand keep some of it from them, whether for the good of all concerned, orfor the good of ourselves, their civil superiors?--whose welfare, it maybe observed, will continually affect theirs. '

"The Judge said that he believed that God had, in his mysteriousprovidence, and of his sovereign pleasure, making use of the cupidity ofwhite men, placed these blacks here in connection with us for their goodas a race, and for the welfare of the world. He said that his mind couldfeel no peace on the subject of slavery, unless he viewed it in thislight. In connection with the great industrial and commercial interestsof our globe, and as an indispensable element in the supply of humanwants, this abject race had been transported from their savage life inAfrica, and had been made immensely useful to the whole civilized world. 'We agree, as I have said, ' he continued, 'as to the immorality of thosewho brought them here; but he is not fit to reason on this subject, being destitute of all proper notions with regard to divine providence, who does not see in the results of slavery, both as to the civilizedworld and to negroes themselves, a wise, benevolent, and an AlmightyHand. Here my mind gets relief in contemplating this subject, not inabstract reasoning, not in logical premises and deductions, but byresting in Providence. There are mysteries in it, --as truly so as in thehuman apostasy, origin of evil, permission of sin, which confound myreasonings as to the benevolence of God; in which, however, I, nevertheless, maintain my firm belief. Here was the great defect in Mr. Jefferson's views of slavery. In the highest Christian sense, he was notqualified to understand this subject; he reasoned like one who did nottake into view the providence and the purposes of God, even while he wassaying what he did of there being "no attribute in the Almighty thatwould take part with us" in favor of slavery. Standing as I do by thisprovidential view of the great subject, the assailants of slavery at theNorth seem to me, some of them, almost insane, and others, evenministers of the Gospel, shall I say it? more than unchristian;--thereis a sort of blind, wild, French Jacobinical atheism in their feelingand behavior; while as to the rest, good people, they are misled by whatMr. Webster, in one of his speeches in the Senate, called "the constantrub-a-dub of the press, "--"no drum-head, " he says, "in the longest day'smarch, having been more incessantly beaten than the feeling of thepublic in certain parts of the North. " I cannot reason with these men, 'continued the Judge, 'for I confess, at once, that I cannot demonstrate, either by logic or by mathematics, a modern quitclaim or warranty inholding slaves. In combating their illogical and unscriptural positions, I seem to them to be an advocate of the divine right ofoppression, --which I am not. That it is best, however, and that it isright, for this relation to continue until God shall manifest somepurpose to terminate it consistently with the good of all concerned, Iam perfectly convinced and satisfied. I believe that it has referenceto the great plan of mercy toward our world, and that when the object isaccomplished, the providence of God will, in some way, make it known. Itmay be the case, no candid man and believer in revelation and divineprovidence will deny it to be possible, that this dispensation withregard to this colored race will continue for long ages to come, in theform of bondage. That they are now under a curse, and have been so forcenturies, is apparent. When the curse is to be repealed, God onlyknows. I like to cherish the idea that some development is to be made ofimmense sources of wealth in Africa, that we have an embryo nation inthe midst of us, whom God has been educating for a great enterprise onthat continent, and when, like California and Australia, the voice ofthe Lord shall shake the wilderness of Africa, and open its doors, itmay appear that American slavery has been the school in which God hasbeen preparing a people to take it into their possession. 

"'EMIGRATION, then, ' said he, 'is the second of the three ways in whichthis problem of slavery may have its solution. 

"'In preparation for this, I say, God may keep these Africans here muchlonger. He may need more territory on which to educate still largernumbers; and we may see Him extending slavery still further in our landand on our continent. So that there may be one other way in which thepurposes of God will manifest themselves with regard to the colored racehere, and that is by EXTENSION. 

"'It may be that still greater portions of this land and continent areto be used, for ages to come, in the multiplication of the black race. Ifeel entirely calm with regard to the subject, believing that God has aplan in all this, and that it is wise and benevolent toward all who fearHim. While our relation to this people remains, the law of love, thegolden rule, must preside over it. That does not require us to place theblacks on a level with us in our parlors, nor in our halls oflegislation; and there may be disabilities properly attaching to themwhich, though they seem hard, are the inevitable consequence of adependent, inferior condition. All this, however, has a benign effectupon us, if we will but act in a Christian manner, to make us gentle, kind, generous; and when this is the case, no state of society ishappier than ours. Let Jacobinical principles, such as some of ourNorthern brethren inculcate, prevail here, and they at once destroy thisbenevolent relation. This relation will improve under the influence ofthe Gospel; it has wonderfully improved since Jefferson's day; andthough the time may be long deferred, we shall no doubt see this coloredrace fulfilling some great purpose in the earth. I trust that ourNorthern friends will not precipitate things and destroy both whites andblacks; for a servile war would be one of extermination. Many of theNorthern people I fear would acquiesce in it, provided especially, thatwe should be the exterminated party. This is clear, if words and actionsare to be fairly interpreted. '

"'The colored people here, as a race, ' said a planter, 'are underobligations to us as partakers in our civilization. No matter, for thepresent, how their ancestors came here;--that does not at all affecttheir present obligations to us for benefits received. Now it is not amatter of course that, having been thus benefited by us, they are atliberty to go away when they please. This we assert respecting them as awhole. Are not the blacks, as a race, so indebted to us that we oughtto be consulted as to the time and manner of their departure? We saythat they are. They do not morally possess the right, we think, to severthe relation when they please. '

"Said an elderly, venerable man, 'A white woman in the cars, inPennsylvania, begged me to hold her infant child for her, while shefetched something for it. She ran off, leaving the child to me. My wifeand I took the child home, and have been at pains and expense with it. Iquestion the child's right to say, whenever it pleases, Sir, I proposeto leave you. I have invested a good deal in him, have increased hisvalue by his being with me, and he has no right to run off with it. '

"'But, ' said the physician, 'how long should you feel that you have aright to his services?'

"'I will answer that, ' said the gentleman, 'if you will say whether mygeneral principle be correct. Have I, or have I not acquired just whatall intelligent slave-holders call "property" in that youth, that is, aright to his services, --not dominion over his soul, nor a right to abusehim, nor in any way to injure him, but to use his services. Have I notacquired that right?'

"'I think you have, ' said the physician, 'but with certain limitations. '

"'The limitations, ' said Mr. W. , 'certainly are not the wishes, norcaprices, nor the inclinations, of the boy;--do you think so?'

"'I agree with you, ' said he. 

"'That is all I contend for, ' said Mr. W. 

"'But, ' said the physician, 'where is your title-deed from your Maker toown these fellow-creatures? Trace their history back, and they are hereby fraud and violence. '

"'Thank you, Sir, ' said Mr. W. , 'that is just the case with my Penn. Icame into possession of him through fraud and violence! I did not sinwhen he was thrown upon my hands; though I confess I said, he was--whatwe call slavery--an incubus. My right and title to the boy I have neverbeen able to discover in any handwriting; the mother, surely, had noright to impose the child upon me; Providence, however, placed it in myhand. I might have given it immediate emancipation through the window, or at the next stopping place; or, I might have left the child on itsmother's vacant seat, declining the trust; but I felt disposed to do asI have done. '

"'Now, ' said the physician, 'will you please tell me, Sir, how long youfeel at liberty to possess this boy as a satisfaction to you for yourpains and expense?'

"'In the first place, ' said Mr. W. , 'I have a right to transfer myguardianship over him to another, if circumstances make it necessary. Indoing so, I must be governed not by selfish motives, but by a benevolentregard to his welfare, allowing that he is not unreasonable and wicked. If when he comes of lawful age, he is judged to be still in need ofguardianship, or it is expedient for the good of all concerned that heshould be my ward indefinitely, the law makes me, if I choose, hisguardian, with certain rights and obligations. Even if he could legallyclaim his freedom at his majority, circumstances might be such that allwould say he was under moral obligations to remain with me. If I abusehim, he must consider before God how far it is his duty to bearaffliction, and submit to oppression. There are cases in which nonewould condemn him, should he escape. But the rule is to "abide. " He hasnot, under all the circumstances of our relation to each other, a rightto walk off at pleasure. '

"The company agreed in this, though the physician made no remark. Weconversed further on the antipathy of the Free States to a largeincrease among them of the colored population, ungrateful and perfidiousKansas, even, withholding civil and political equality from them; theircondition in Canada; their relation to the whites in every state wherethey have gone to reside; and we concluded that the South was the besthome for the black man, --that home to become better and better inproportion as the law of Christian benevolence prevailed. We agreed thatif the South could be relieved of Northern interference, the conditionof the colored people would be greatly improved, in many respects;especially, we regretted that now we did not have an enlightened publicsentiment at the North to help the best part of the Southern people ineffecting reformations and improving the laws and regulations. Now, theNorthern influence is wholly nugatory, or positively adverse. Theopinions and feelings of calm and candid neighbors and friends havegreat influence. This the South does not enjoy. The North is herpassionate reprover; she is held to be, by many, her avowed enemy. Inresistance, and in retaliation, compromises are broken, and everypolitical advantage is grasped at in self-defence, by the South. Recrimination ensues, and civil war is threatened. The only remedy isthe entire abandonment by the North of interference with this subject;but this cannot take place so long as the Northern people labor undertheir doctrinal error that it is a sin to hold property in man. Here isthe root of the difficulty. We agreed that if reflecting people at theNorth would adopt Scriptural views on that point, peace would soonensue; for all the discussions of the supposed or real evils inslavery, which would then be the sole objects of animadversion, wouldelicit truth, and tend to good. If the South felt that the North weretruly her friend, they would both be found cooperating for theimprovement and elevation of the colored race. Every form of oppressionand selfishness would feel the withering rebuke of a just andenlightened universal public sentiment. But now that the quarrel runshigh as to the sinfulness and wrongfulness of the relation itself, thereis nothing for the South to do but to stand by their arms. 

"One gentleman made some remarks which interested and instructed me morethan anything that was said. He confessed that the whole subject of therelation of master and servant, --in a word, slavery, was, for a longtime, a sore trouble to him, because he constantly found himselfsearching for his right, his warrant to hold his slaves. At last heresolved to study the Bible on the subject. He naturally turned to thelast instructions of the Word of God with regard to it, and in Paul'sinjunctions to masters and servants, he found relief. There he perceivedthat God recognized the relationships of slavery, that the golden rulewas enjoined, not to dissolve the relation, but to make it benevolent toall concerned. He found the Almighty establishing the relation of masterand servant among his own chosen people, and decreeing that certainpersons might be servants forever, being, as he himself terms them 'aninheritance forever. '

"Hereupon, he said, his troubles ceased. He gave up his speculations andcasuistry, and concluded to take things as he found them and to makethem better. He became more than ever the friend and patron of hisservants, rendered to them, to the best of his ability that which wasjust and equal, felt in buying servants and in having them born in hishousehold, somewhat as pastors of churches, he supposed, feel inreceiving new members to be trained up for usefulness, here, and forheaven. He said that he had a hundred and seventy-five servants, andthat he doubted whether there was a happier, or more virtuous, or morereligious community anywhere. 

"'But, ' said the young Northern lady, who had recently come to be ateacher in the family where we visited, 'what will become of them whenyou die?'

"'Why, Miss, ' said he, 'what will become of any household when theparents die? The truth is, ' said he, 'I believe in a covenant-keepingGod. I make a practice of praying for my servants, by name. I keep alist of them, and I read it, sometimes, when I read my Bible, and on theSabbath, and on days set apart for religious services. I have asked Godto be the God of my servants forever. I shall meet them at the bar ofGod, and I trust with a good conscience. Many of them have becomeChristians. '

"'Do you ever sell them?' said she. 

"'I have parted with some of my servants to families, ' he replied, 'where I knew that they would fare as well as with me. This was alwayswith their consent, except in two or three cases of inveteratewickedness, when, instead of sending the fellows to the state-prison forlife, as you would do at the North, I sold them to go to Red River, andwas as willing to see them marched off, handcuffed, as you ever were tosee villains in the custody of the officers. But had any of your goodpeople from the North met them, an article would have appeared, perhaps, in all your papers, telling of the heart-rending spectacle, --three humanbeings, in a slave-coffle! going, they knew not where, into hopelessbondage! And had they escaped and fled to Boston, the tide ofphilanthropy there, in many benevolent bosoms, would have received newstrength in the grateful accession of these worshipful fugitives fromSouthern cruelty. Whereas, all which love and kindness, and every formof indulgence, instruction, and discipline, tempered with mercy, coulddo, had been used with them in vain. One was a thief, the pest of thecounty, and had earned long years in a penitentiary; but slavery, yousee, kept him at liberty! Another was brutally cruel to animals; anotherwas the impersonation of laziness. Two of them would have helped JohnBrown, no doubt, had he come here, and they might have gained a BunkerHill name, at the North, in an insurrection here, as champions ofliberty. '

"This led to some remarks about the great economy which there is in theSouthern mode of administering discipline and correction on the spot, and at once, instead of filling jails and houses of correction withfelons. But to dwell on this would lead me too far into a new branch ofour subject. 

"This planter asked the young lady, the school-teacher, if tare and tretwere in her arithmetic? Upon her saying 'yes, in the older books, ' hetold her that there was, seemingly, a good deal of tare and tret inGod's providence, when accomplishing his great purposes; and that to fixthe mind inordinately on evils and miseries incident to a great systemand forgetting the main design, was like a man of business being soabsorbed by the deductions and waste in a great staple as to forego thetrade. He said that he thought the Northern mind ciphered too much inthat part of moral arithmetic as to slavery. 

"A very excellent gentleman from the District of Columbia who had heldan important office under government, gave us some valuable information. He said that the extinction of slavery in New England was not becausethe institution was deemed to be immoral or sinful, but from otherconsiderations and circumstances. It was abolished in Massachusetts, without doubt, by a clause, in the bill of rights, copied from theDeclaration of Independence. In Berkshire, one township, he believed, sued another for the support and maintenance of a pauper slave, and theSupreme Court decided that the bill of rights abolished slavery. Thequestion was as incidental, he said, as was the question in the DredScott case which the United States Supreme Court decided. ThisMassachusetts case was previous to any reports of decisions, and he hadsome doubt as to the form in which the suit was brought, but was sure asto the decision. The question as to abolishing slavery was not submittedto the people, nor to a Convention, nor to the Legislature. 

"I was specially interested in his account of the way in which theslave-trade was prohibited by our excellent sister, Connecticut. It wasdone by a section prohibiting the importation of slaves by sea or land, preceded by the following preamble:--'And whereas the increase of slavesin this state is injurious to the poor, and inconvenient, Be ittherefore enacted. ' Another section of the same statute, he said, waspreceded by the following words:--'And whereas sound policy requiresthat the abolition of slavery should be effected, as soon as may beconsistent with the rights of individuals, and the public safety andwelfare, Be it enacted, ' etc. Then follows the provision that all blackand mulatto children, born in slavery, in that state, after the first ofMarch, 1784, shall be free at twenty-five years of age. Selling slaves, to be carried out of the state, was not prohibited before May, 1792;thus allowing more than eight years to the owners of slaves inConnecticut to sell their slaves to Southern purchasers! 'There seems tome, ' he said, 'no evidence of superior humanity in this; nor was itrepentance for slavery as a sin. ' He thought that if we feel compelled, by our superior conscientiousness, to require any duty of the South, allthat decency will allow us to demand is, that she tread in our steps. 

"'I think, ' said a planter, 'that if pity is due from one to the other, the South owes the larger debt to the North. There needs to be a greatreformation, namely, The Gradual Emancipation of the Northern Mind from"Anti-slavery" Error. '

"'Our English friends, in their zeal against American slavery, ' said ayoung lawyer, 'seem to forget that the English government, at the Peaceof Utrecht, agreed to furnish Spain with four thousand negroes annuallyfor thirty years. '

"'Poor human nature!' said the Judge. 'What should we all do, if we hadnot the sins of others to repent of and bewail?'

"There was a strong friend of temperance in the company from anorth-western state. Travelling in the South for pleasure, some timeago, he was immediately struck with the comparative absence ofintemperance among the slaves. On learning that the laws forbid the saleof intoxicating drink to them, and thinking of four millions of peoplein this land as delivered, in a great degree, from the curse ofdrunkenness, he says that he exclaimed: 'Pretty well for the "sum of allvillanies. " The class of people in the United States best defendedagainst drunkenness are the slaves!' Some admonished him that theslaves did get liquor, and that white men ventured to tempt them. 'Idon't care for that, ' said he; 'of course, there are exceptions; the"sum of all villanies" is a Temperance Society!'

"A Northern gentleman, travelling through the South, said, 'As to thefeelings of the North respecting a possible insurrection, I amsatisfied, since visiting in different parts of the South, that a verycommon apprehension with us, respecting your liability to trouble fromthis source, is exaggerated by fancy. 

"'We have a theoretical idea that you must be dwelling, as we commonlyhear it said, with a volcano under your feet. Very many regard yourslaves as a race of noble spirits, conscious of wrong, and burning withsuppressed indignation, which is ready to break out at every chance. They think of you at the North as having guns and pistols and spears allabout you, ready for use at any moment. But when I spend a night at yourplantations, the owner and I the only white males, the wife and seven oreight young children having us for their only defenders against theseventy or hundred blacks, who are all about us in the quarters, theidea of danger has really never occurred to me; because my knowledge ofthe people has previously disarmed me of fear. '

"'Emissaries, white and black, ' said a planter, 'can, make us trouble;but my belief is that we could live here to the end of time with thesecolored people, and be subject to fewer cases of insubordination by farthan your corporations at the North suffer from in strikes. Your people, generally, have no proper idea of the black man's nature. God seems tohave given him docility and gentleness, that he may be a slave till thetime comes for him to be something else. So He has given the Jews theirpeculiarities, fitting them for His purposes with regard to them; and tothe Irish laborer He has given his willingness and strength to dig, making him the builder of your railways. If we fulfil our trust, withregard to the blacks, according to the spirit and rules of the NewTestament, I believe God will be our defender, and that all hisattributes will be employed to maintain our authority over this peoplefor his own great purposes. We have nothing to fear except from whitefanatics, North and South. '

"'I have no idea, ' said the Judge, 'of dooming every individual of thiscolored race to unalterable servitude. I am in favor of putting them inthe way of developing any talent which any of them, from time to time, may exhibit. More of this, I am sure, would be done by us, if we werefreed from the necessity of defending ourselves against Northernassaults upon our social system, involving, as these assaults do, perilto life, and to things dearer than life. But I see tenfold greater evilsin all the plans of emancipation which have ever been proposed than inthe present state of things. '

"The pastor of the place, who was present, had not taken much part inthe discussion, though he had not purposely kept aloof from it. He wasSouthern born, inherited slaves, had given them their liberty one byone, and had recently returned from the North, where he had been to seetwo of them--the last of his household--embark as hired servants withfamilies who were to travel in Europe. 

"Some of us asked him about his visit to the North. Said he, 'I went tochurch one day, and was enjoying the devotional services, when all atonce the minister broke out in prayer for the abolition of slavery. Hepresented the South before God as "oppressors, " and prayed that theymight at once repent, and "break every yoke, " and "let the oppressed gofree. " I took him to be an immediate emancipationist, perhaps peculiarin his views. But in the afternoon I went into another church, and inprayer the minister began to pray "for all classes and conditions of menamong us. " I was glad to see, as I thought, charity beginning at home. But the next sentence took in our whole land; and the next was adownright swoop upon slavery; so that I regarded his previous petitionsmerely as spiral movements toward the South. If the good man's petitionshad been heard, woe to him and to the North, and to the slaves, to saynothing of ourselves. 

"'I stopped after service, and, without at first introducing myself, Iasked him if he was in the habit of praying, as he had done to-day, forslave-holders. He said yes. I asked him if it was a general practice atthe North. He thought it was. I inquired if he would have every slaveliberated to-morrow, if he could effect it. "By all means, " saidhe. --"Would they be better off?" said I. --"Undoubtedly they would, " saidhe. "But that is not the question. Do right, if the heavensfall. "--"What would become of them?" said I. --"Hire them, " said he; "paythem wages; let husbands and wives live together; abolishauction-blocks, and"--"But, " said I, "some of the very best of men inthe world, at the South, are decidedly of the opinion that suchemancipation would be the most barbarous thing that could be devised forthe slaves. "--"Are you a slave-holder?" said he. --"I was, " said I; "butI have liberated my slaves, and I am in your city to see the last two ofmy servants sail with your fellow-citizens ---- and ----" (namingthem). --"You don't say so!" said he. "What did you liberate themfor?"--"I could not take proper care of them, " said I, "situated as Iam. "--"But, " said he, "did you do right in letting them go to sea as youdid? One of them will get no good with that man for a master. I wouldrather be your dog than his child. "--"Then, " said I, "you have'oppressors' at the North, it seems. "--"Well, " said he, "some of ourpeople are not as good as they ought to be. "--"It is so with us at theSouth, " said I. --"Preach for me next Sabbath, Sir, " said he. --"Are yougoing to stay over?"--"Why, " said I, "my dear Sir, would you and yourpeople like to hear a man preach for you whom you, if you made theprayer, would first pray for as an 'oppressor?'"--"But you are not anoppressor, " said he. --"But I am in favor of what you call 'oppression, '"said I. --"One thing I could pray for with you, " said I. --"What is that?"said he. --"Break every yoke, " said I. "This I pray for always. But howmany 'yokes, '" said I, "do you suppose there are at the South?"--"Iforget the exact number of the slaves, " said he, in the most artlessmanner. '

"Hereupon the company broke out into great merriment. After they hadenjoyed their laughter awhile, my Northern lady-friend said, 'Did youpreach for him?'

"'Yes, ' said the pastor; 'and prayed for him too. 

"'Walking through the streets of that place in the evening, I sawevidence that no minister nor citizen there was justified in casting thefirst stone at the South for immorality. I lifted up my heart in thanksto God that my sons were not exposed to the temptations of a Northerncity. Being in the United States District Court there, several times, Ihad some revelations also with regard to the treatment and the conditionof seamen in some Northern ships, which led me to the conclusion whichI have often drawn, --that poor human nature is about the same, North andSouth. 

"'So, when I conducted the services of public worship, I prayed for thatcity and for the young people, and alluded to the temptations which Ihad witnessed; and I referred also to mariners, and prayed for mastersand officers of vessels who had such authority over the welfare and thelives of seamen; and I prayed that Christians in both sections of ourland might pray for each other, considering each themselves, lest theyalso be tempted, and that they might not be self-righteous andaccusatory; and that our eye might not be so filled with the evils ofother sections of the land as not to see those which were at home. 

"'After service the good brother said, "I suppose you referred in yourprayer to my praying against the South, as you call it. Well, " said he, confidentially, "the truth is, some of our people make this thing theirreligion, and they will not abide a man who does not pray againstslavery. " Some gentlemen, with their ladies, stopped to speak with me. One shook me by the hand most cordially. "We are glad to see our goodSouthern brethren, " said he; "thankful to hear you preach so, and prayso, too, " said he, with an additional shake and a significant look, while the rest were equally cordial with their assent. One of thegentlemen took me home with him. "This is most of it politics, " said he, "and newspaper trade, this anti-slavery feeling. The people generallyare not fanatics; they are kind and humane, and their sensibilities aretouched by tales of distress. "--"Especially Southern, " said I. "Last eveI read in your papers four outrages which happened within fifteen milesof this city, and two in your city, which equalled, to say the least, in barbarity anything that ever comes to my knowledge among our people. "

"'The next Sabbath, as I have since learned, my good brother was verycomprehensive, discriminating, and impartial in his supplications. Hereally distinguished between those at the South who "oppress" theirfellow-men, and those who "remember them that are in bonds as bound withthem. " But, ' said the pastor, 'the most of those who use that latterexpression at the North really think the Apostle had slaves, as a class, in mind. I have no such belief. I suppose that he referred to persecutedChristians, suffering imprisonment for their religion, and to allafflicted persons. 

"'My landlord said to me, ' he continued, '"They tell us you are afraidof free discussion at the South, that you are afraid to have your slaveshear some things, lest it should excite them to insurrection. How isthis?"

"'I told him that the slaves, being the lower order of society with us, were not capable of so discriminating in that which promiscuousstrangers should see fit to say to them as to make it safe to have themlisten to every harangue or to every one who should set himself up toteach. "Of course, " said I, "there are liabilities and dangers in ourstate of society. We must use prudence and caution. We have some loosepowder in our magazine. No one denies this. What if one who was rebukedfor carrying an open lamp into the magazine of a ship, should reproachthe captain with being 'an enemy to the light, ' and as 'loving darknessrather than light'?"

"'While at the North, ' said he, 'I read Mr. Buckle on civilization, andI reflected upon the subject. Being in a great assembly, once or twice, listening to abolitionist orators, lay and clerical, and hearing theirvile assaults on personal character, their vulgar and reckless ridiculeof fifteen States of our Union, their affected, oracular way of sayingthe most trite things as though they were aphorisms, but reminding me ofthe piles of short stuff which you see round a saw-mill, and hearing thegreat throng applaud and shout, I asked myself whether we have reallymade any decided advances in civilization since the Hebrew Commonwealth. I really doubted whether those orators could have collected an audienceof Hebrews even in the wilderness. Under the "Judges, " the people were, at times, low enough to enjoy such drivelling. The willingness at theNorth to hear these men, and to applaud them, gave me a low idea of thestate of society. '

"'But, ' said I, 'confess now that you found specimens of cultivated lifethere such as you never saw surpassed. '

"'I did, ' said he, 'many times. And I must tell you, ' he added, 'of myenjoyment in looking on your pastures in autumn, --the sun shining aslantupon them of an afternoon, --and in noticing what shades of scarlet andcrimson were given to the picture by the whortleberry leaves, which, Ifound, contributed most to the coloring of the landscape. I also saw apeculiarity of the whortleberry's flower, which, when stung by an insectsometimes swells to twenty-five times its natural size, and becomes afungus. '

"'Now, ' said I, 'why not apply this, --perhaps you were intending to doso, --and say that society at the North is generally like ourwhortleberry pastures in autumn, which pleased you so much, with hereand there a fungus, made by the sting of radicalism. '

"A planter's Northern wife said, 'I should like to move the adoption ofthat simile. '

"'We will have it so, ' said the Judge to me, 'if the lady and you tellus that we must. '

"'A fungus, ' said I, 'gets more attention from one half of the peoplewho go into the woods, than all the pure and beautiful garniture of thepastures. '

"The ladies of our company having been rallied for not having done theirpart in the conversation, and also, of course, having been complimentedfor keeping silence so long, the wife of one of the planters, a Northernlady, made this remark that considering how God, in his providence, hadmade such provision for the welfare of the human family through slaveryin our land, and, in doing it, had shown mercy and salvation to so manyhundreds of thousands of Africans, she thought it both ungrateful andnarrow-minded in people anywhere to confine all their thoughts to theincidental evils of the slaves. She said that in the North she was notan abolitionist, but on coming to the South and finding things sodifferent from that which her fancy had pictured, she had concluded tobe very charitable toward the most of her Northern friends who she saidwere no more in the dark than she herself had been all her days, fromreading newspapers and tales which had concealed one whole side ofslavery from the view of Northern people. She added that she preferredlife at the North without the blacks, but had found more disinterestedbenevolence toward them in one year at the South than she had charity tobelieve existed in the hearts of all the good people at the North towardthem, counting in even the professional benevolence of the 'friends ofthe slave. '

"After refreshments, the pastor was called upon to read the Scriptures, and to offer prayer. He read the fifteenth chapter of Revelation. Nevercan I forget the impression which one of the verses in that chapter madeupon me, in connection with some of the thoughts awakened by ourconversation about the sovereignty of God as displayed in his dark andawful dispensations towards races, nations, and men: 'And the sevenangels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pureand white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. ''Those who are in any way associated with the administration of God'sgreat judgments towards their fellow-men, ' said he, 'have need ofspecial purity; and their honor should be like the untarnished gold. '

"This pastor told me, during the repast, that one day, returningsuddenly from his study in the church just after breakfast, to the houseof one of the gentlemen present, with whom he lived, and who was one ofthe wealthiest men in the South, and passing through the parlor to get abook, he found the room darkened, and the lady of the house kneeling inprayer with her servants. He of course withdrew at once, but he learnedafterward from one of the 'slaves, ' that it was the lady's daily custom. He often thought of that incident when reading Northern religiousnewspapers and noticing their lamentations over 'slave-holdingprofessors. '"

 * * * * *

So much for my Southern visit. 

Mrs. North said that in our next conversation she would suggest that weconsider the relation of Christianity to Slavery. I told her that I hadsome night thoughts on that subject, which I would with pleasuresubmit, at another time. 

As the rain continued, Mr. North and I resorted to the wood-pile in theshed for exercise, till dinner-time, Mrs. North following us to thedoor, and charging us not to converse upon this subject till she shouldbe present. 

CHAPTER IX. 

DISCUSSION IN PHILEMON'S CHURCH AT THE RETURN OF ONESIMUS. 

 "My equal will he be again Down in that cold, oblivious gloom, Where all the prostrate ranks of men Crowd without fellowship, --the tomb. "

 JAMES MONTGOMERY. 

"I will now relate to you, " said I, as we resumed our conversation, "thethoughts which came to me one night as I lay awake meditating on thissubject. I wrote them down the next day. 

"The subject in our conversation which suggested them was, The relationof Christianity to slavery. 

 * * * * *

"About the year A. D. 64, two men, travellers from Rome, entered the cityof Colosse, in Phrygia. Asia Minor, both of them the bearers of lettersfrom the Apostle Paul, then a prisoner at Rome. 

"A Christian Church had been gathered at Colosse. Its pastor wasprobably Archippus. Some think that Epaphras was his colleague. Thischurch, according to Dr. Lardner and others, was most probably gatheredby the Apostle Paul himself. Mount Cadmus rose behind the city, with itsalmost perpendicular side, and a huge chasm in the mountain was theoutlet of a torrent which flowed into the river Lycus, on which the citywas built, standing not far from the junction of this river with theMoeander. 

"One of the two men who bore these letters was a slave. His name wasOnesimus. He robbed his master, Philemon, of Colosse, fled to Rome, heard Paul preach, was converted, and now by the Apostle is sent back tohis master with a letter, in charge of Tychicus, who, with thisOnesimus, was the bearer of a letter to the Colossian Church. 

"Let us attend the church-meeting. The pastor, Archippus, presides. Epaphras is at Rome. 

"What an interesting company do we behold as we sit near the pastor'stable, in full view of the audience! The inhabitants of this place werenoted for the worship of Bacchus, and Cybele, mother of the gods; henceher name, _Phrygia Mater_. Every kind of licentious language and actionswas practised in the worship of these deities, accompanied with afrantic rage called orgies, from the Greek word for _rage_. This was apart of their religious worship. From among such people, converts hadbeen made to Christianity, together with some who had been turned fromJudaism. 

"The letter from the Apostle Paul is brought in and is laid on thepastor's table, and some account is given of the manner in which it wasreceived. The letter is read. It refers the Colossians, at the close, tothe bearers, for further information and instructions. 'All my stateshall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother and a faithfulminister and fellow-servant in the Lord. Whom I have sent unto you forthe same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort yourhearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one ofyou. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. '

"Tychicus relates his story, and, when he has finished, Philemon, amember of the Church, addresses the meeting. He was evidently a man ofdistinction in that community, as we infer from the large number ofpersons in his household, (ver. 2, ) his liberality to poor Christians, (ver. 5, 7, ) and from the marked respect and deference paid to him bythe Apostle. He also had received a letter from the Apostle, and he asksleave to read it. 

"He then tells them that Onesimus is present; that he has been sent backby the Apostle Paul, and with the full, cordial consent of Onesimushimself. He would ask permission for Onesimus to say a few words. 

"'Come hither, ' says the pastor, 'and tell us what the Lord hath donefor thee, and how he hath had mercy on thee. '

"'Let me wash the saints' feet, ' says Onesimus, 'but I am not worthy toteach in the church. '

"He proceeds to tell them, in full, of his escape from his master, afterrobbing him; of his meeting the Apostle at Rome; of his conversion; ofhis voluntary return to spend his days, if such be the will of God, asthe servant of Philemon. 

"The account of these proceedings reaches Laodicea, not far distant, towhich place Paul had also sent a letter, and the Colossians, agreeablyto the Apostle's charge, exchange letters, and no doubt the letter toPhilemon is also read to the Church which is at Laodicea. 

"Whereupon, we will suppose, a controversy at once springs up. There hadalready appeared in this region of Phrygia, as we infer from the Epistleto the Colossians, serious errors, among them a kind of angel worshipand asceticism, or abstinence from things lawful, and a state of thingscalled Gnosis, (Eng. Knowledge, ) or Gnosticism, a pervading spirit ofworldly wisdom, science, philosophy, which treated the simplicity whichwas in Christ as too rudimental and plain for the human mind, andtherefore sought to furnish it with speculations and mysticism, togratify its desires for a more extensive spiritual knowledge than itseemed to many of them was provided for by Christianity. 

"Among the speculations and theories of those days, we will suppose thatthe idea began to prevail that Christianity was inconsistent withholding a fellow-being in bondage. A motion is made in the LaodiceanChurch that a committee be appointed to confer with the Colossian Churchon the return of Onesimus into slavery. Such a motion would have foundready advocates in the Church at Laodicea, if, as at a later day, theywere 'neither cold nor hot' in religion; in which case any collateralsubjects wholly or partly secular, would have a charm for them. Thesesupplied that lack of warmth which they were conscious of as toreligion; their church-meeting, no doubt, seemed to them dull, unless asubject was introduced which gave opportunity for discussion, and forthings which gendered debate, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. 

"The result of the conference on the part of the Laodicean Committeewith the Colossian Church was, that a general meeting was appointed todiscuss the subject of the return of Onesimus into slavery. It was aprivate session of members of the two churches. They claimed theprivilege as Christians of discussing any question relating to thegovernment and the laws, taking care that no spies were present; still, with all their precautions, false brethren made trouble for them bygiving private information to the civil authorities against some oftheir number, whom they disliked; and this led to some oppression andpersecution. 

"But the meeting was fully attended. Two members of the church who werefaithful servants to slave-holding brethren were set to guard the doors. The slaves were allowed to be present and listen to the discussion. Thiswas carried after much debate, some contending that it would expose theChristians to just reprehension from the civil authorities; and othersmaintaining that it would do the slaves good to hear such doctrinesadvanced and enforced as would be quoted from the Apostle relating tomasters and servants. 

"The discussion was opened by a brother from Laodicea, an office-bearerin the church, a private citizen, devoted to study, and an author ofsome repute. He was formerly odist at the festivals of Cybele. Hispieces were collected and published under the title of 'PhrygianCanticles. ' His name was Olamus. 

"He took the ground that Christianity abrogated slavery. He quoted thewell known words of Paul, so familiar to all who had heard him preach:'In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but all are one in Christ. ' 'The Spirit of the Lord isupon me because he hath sent me to preach deliverance to the captives, the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound. ' 'Whatsoever yewould that men should do unto you, do you even so to them. '

"He maintained that to own a fellow-creature was inconsistent with thislaw of equal love; that it was giving sanction to a feature ofbarbarism; that, practically, slavery was the sum of all villanies; anenormous wrong; a stupendous injustice. 

"If any one should reply that the Mosaic institutions recognizedslavery, he had one brief answer:--'which things are done away inChrist. ' Moses permitted this and some other things for the hardness oftheir hearts. Polygamy was allowed by Moses, not by Christianity; itsspirit is against it; the bishop of a church must be 'the husband of onewife;' slavery is certainly none the less contrary to the spirit of thegospel. 

"But inasmuch as it is inexpedient to dissolve at once, and in allcases, the relation of master and slave, he contended that while therelation continued, it should be regulated by the laws which God himselfonce prescribed. Every seventh year should be a year of release; everyfiftieth, year should be a jubilee. And as to fugitives, he would referhis brethren to that Divine injunction: 'Thou shalt not deliver unto hismaster the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee; he shalldwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, inone of thy gates, where it liketh him best; thou shalt not oppress him. '

"That a slave having escaped from his master could not rightfully besent back into bondage, was evident from these considerations:

"All men are born free and equal, and have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If a slave sees fit to walk off, or run off, or ride off on his master's beast, or sail off in hismaster's boat, he has a perfect right to do so. Slavery is violence;every man may resist violence offered to his person, except underprocess of law; the person cannot be taken except for crime, or debt, orin war; every man owns his body and soul; the person cannot becomemerchandise, except for the three causes above named, which heacknowledged were justifiable causes of involuntary servitude atpresent. But to forcibly seize a weaker man, or race, and hold them inbondage he declared to be in violation of the laws of nature, andcontrary to the Christian religion. 

"If it should be replied that Paul the Apostle countenanced slavery bysending back Onesimus, he would answer, that Paul was a Jew, and was notyet freed wholly from Jewish practices and associations of ideas. Gnosticism has supervened upon the rudimental childhood of spiritualtruth. He believed in progress. It was contrary to the instinct of humannature to send back a poor fugitive into bondage, and he was glad forone that he lived in an age when the innate moral sentiments, under thelucid teachings of our more transcendental scholars were becoming moreand more the all-sufficient guide in the affairs of life. He would, therefore, publicly disclaim his allegiance to the teachings of theApostle Paul, if, upon reflection, Paul should insist that he was rightin remanding Onesimus to be Philemon's property 'forever;' it was wellenough that he should be sent back to restore what he had taken bytheft, provided Philemon would immediately release him; otherwise, tosteal from Philemon was doing no more than Philemon had done to him, intaking away that liberty which is the birthright of every human being;and Onesimus probably stole merely to assist his escape. He wasjustifiable in doing so. 

"If one should insist that there can be no intrinsic wrong in holding afellow-being as property because God allowed Hebrews to sell themselves, and in certain cases to be servants forever, and directed the Israelitesto buy servants of the heathen round about them, who should be aninheritance to the children of the Israelites, he would simply sayeither that the whole pentateuch which contained such a libel on thedivine character, is thereby proved to be a forgery, or, that if thepentateuch is to be received, it only proves that in condescension to arace of freebooters who were employed, as the Israelites were, in bloodywars of extermination, slavery was allowed them, to prevent, perhaps, worse evils, and in consistency with their dark-minded, semi-barbarouscondition. In this enlightened age when Greece and Rome had shedsuperior light on human relationships and obligations, and especiallysince Christ had promulgated the golden rule, the idea that man couldown a fellow-creature was so preposterous that he would be an infidel, nay, he would go farther, he would be an atheist, rather than believeit. Our moral instincts are our guide. They are the highest source ofevidence that there is a God, and they are a perfect indication as towhat God and his requirements should be. He was for passing a vote ofdisapprobation at the act of Paul the Apostle in sending back Onesimusinto bondage. Tell me not, said he, that the Apostle calls him 'abrother beloved, ' and 'one of you;' these honeyed phrases are butcoatings to a deadly poison. Slavery is evil, and only evil and thatcontinually. Disguise it as you will, Philemon holds property inOnesimus. By the laws of Phrygia, he could put Onesimus to death forrunning away. He deplored the act as a heavy blow at Christianity. Itwould countervail the teachings of the Apostle. He sincerely hoped thatthe Epistle to Philemon would not be preserved; for should it becollected hereafter, as possibly it may, among Paul's letters, unbornages might make it an apology for slavery, it would abate the hatred ofthe world against the sum of all villanies. He would even be in favorof a vote requesting Philemon to give Onesimus his liberty at once, evenwithout his consent, sending him back, with this most unwise and unblestepistle to Philemon, to Paul, who says that he 'would have retainedhim, ' but would not without Philemon's consent. He did hope that thebrethren would speak their minds, be open-mouthed, and not be like dumbdogs. For his part he wanted an anti-slavery religion. He acknowledgedthat the truths of the Gospel needed the stimulant of freedom to givethem life and power. 

"His remarks evidently produced a great sensation, for a variety ofreasons, as we may well suppose. 

"A man took the floor in opposition to this Laodicean brother. He was aJewish convert, a member of the Colossian Church. His name wasTheodotus. Born a Jew, he had renounced his religion and became a GreekSophist, practised law at Scio, and heard Paul at Mars Hill, where, withDionysius the Areopagite, with whom he was visiting, he was converted. He had established himself at Colosse, in the practice of law. He wasunusually tall for a man of his descent, had beautifully regular Jewishfeatures, and was a captivating speaker. 

"He said that they had 'heard strange things to-day. If they are true, we have no foundation underneath our feet. Every man's moral sentiments, it seems, are to be his guide. Where, then, is our common appeal? Forhis part he believed that if God be our heavenly Father, he has givenhis children an authentic book, a writing, for their guide, unless heprefers to speak personally with them, or with their representatives. When he ceased to speak by the prophets, he spoke to us by his Son; andnow that his Son is ascended, I believe, ' said he, 'that inspired menare appointed to guide us, and seeing that they cannot reach all bytheir living voice, I believe that the evangelists and apostles are tofurnish us with writings which shall be inspired disclosures of God'swill and our duty. The Old Testament is as truly God's word as ever;Christ declared that not one jot or tittle should pass from it, till allbe fulfilled. Some of it is fulfilled, in him, the end of the types;parts of it refer to local and temporary things; all which is not localand temporary is still binding upon us. At least, the spirit of its lawsis benevolent and wise. Damascus and its scenes are too fresh in thememories of the brethren to need that I should argue the inspiration ofthe Apostle to the Gentiles. His miracles are known to us. Nay, whatmiracles are we ourselves, reclaimed from the service of the devil, oncethe worshippers of Bacchus and of our Phrygian mother; now, clothed, andin our right minds. The Apostle claims to speak and act by divineauthority. We must question everything, if we set aside this claim. 

"'I maintain, ' said he, 'that the Apostle Paul regards the holding afellow-creature as property to be consistent with Christianity. Toprevent all misunderstanding, however, let me declare that he insists onthe golden rule as the law of slave-holding, as of everything else; thathe discountenances oppression, that he warns and threatens us withregard to it; and that he considers slave-holding as consistent with theChristian character and happiness of master and slave. 

"'In the very Epistle just received by our Church, and by the hands ofTychicus and Onesinius himself, from the Apostle, we find these words:"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; notwith eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearingGod; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and notunto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of theinheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shallreceive for the wrong which he hath done; and there is no respect ofpersons. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal;knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. "

"'Where, in this, is there a word that countenances the wrongfulness ofbeing a slave, or of holding men as slaves? He directs all hisexhortations to the duties which are to be performed in the relation, and he leaves the relation as he finds it. He does not enjoin slavery;he treats it as something which belongs to society, to government, andhe leaves Christianity to regulate it as circumstances shall make itproper. If any one says that the Apostle was afraid to meddle with it, Ireply, that there was never anything yet that Paul was afraid to meddlewith, if it was right to do so. He "meddled" with Diana of the Ephesiansand her craftsmen; he "meddled" with the "beasts" there; he "meddled"with idolatry on Mars Hill at Athens, I being witness; he has beenbeaten, stoned, imprisoned, and is now the second time before Nero forhis life. Afraid to "meddle" with slavery! I am ashamed of the man whomakes the suggestion. He who thinks it, has never yet understood him. 

"'Now, where in all his teachings has he ever intimated that it is wrongto hold property in man? Nowhere; I repeat it, nowhere. But is heignorant of the nature of slavery? We all know what has lately happenedat Rome, in connection with slavery. The very year that Paul arrives atRome, the prefect of the city, Pedanius Secundus, was murdered by hisslave; and agreeably to the laws of slavery all the slaves belonging tothe prefect, a great number, women and children among them, were put todeath indiscriminately, though innocent of the crime. [A] Such is slaveryunder the Apostle's eye; and yet'--

 [Footnote A: Tacitus, _Annals_, xiv. 42. --A thrilling tale. See Bohn's Classical Library, 53. ]

"'And, therefore, ' interrupted the Laodicean brother, 'the Apostleapproves of murdering innocent slaves for the sin of one. That is theconclusion to which your reasoning will bring us. '

"'Excusing the brother for interrupting me, I ask, Is that agreeable tothe plain facts in the case?' said the speaker. 'Are the abuses ofparentage chargeable upon the relationship of parent and child?Moreover, does not the Apostle expressly teach us, in this Epistle, thatsuch things are wrong? but still, does he condemn the relation of masterand slave?

"'The tale of that horrid butchery was present to the mind of theApostle when he sends Onesimus back into slavery. Moreover, he knew thatby our laws Philemon could put Onesimus to death; yet he sends him back. 

"'It is said by my brother that Paul enunciated principles which in timewould kill slavery, and therefore he did not care to denounce it, butprudently let it alone. What else, I inquire, did Paul fail to denounce?and why is this "enormous wrong, " this "stupendous injustice, " alone, left to die, without being attacked? No, Paul treated slavery as he didall other forms of government; he did not denounce government, not evenits despotic forms; for he knew that a despotism may be the best form ofgovernment in some circumstances. But he spoke against the abuse ofpower by rulers, and in the same way he speaks against the abuse ofpower by the master. 

"'My brother tells us that slavery is "the sum of all villanies. " Acomprehensive term, truly. Let us admit the correctness of the phrase. "All villanies" includes all "the works of the flesh, " and the Apostleenumerates the principal of them, where he says, "Now the works of theflesh are these;"--concluding his account with the expression, "and suchlike. " With unsparing denunciation, he portrays each and every"villany, " and shows how the wrath of God is revealed from heavenagainst it. 

"'But while he is thus bold and faithful with regard to "all villanies"in particular, we cannot but think it strange that a thing which is saidto be the "sum" of them all, is nowhere spoken against by the Apostle!On the contrary, he recognizes the duties which grow out ofslave-holding. 

"'Let us suppose him to do the same with regard to each villany which hedoes to that which my brother calls the "sum" of them all. Then weshould hear him say! Murderers, do so and so; thieves, do so and so; andye that are mutilated, do so and so; and ye that are pillaged, do so andso. I am curious to know how my brother will answer this. What are thereligious "duties" of murderers and thieves, but to repent, to forsaketheir evil ways at once, and to make lawful reparation? And what are the"duties" of those whom murderers and thieves assault, but to resist, andto seek the conviction of the evil-doer? Oh how strange it seems for theApostle to counsel masters and slaves to imitate their "Master which isin heaven, " in their relation to each other, if holding men in bondagebe "the sum of all villanies, " and how strange for him to send Onesimusback to the system to behave in it as Christ would act in his place!

"'Onesimus escapes, we will say, from a gang of murderers, or from acompany of thieves, and the Apostle's preaching is the means of hisbecoming a good man. Paul writes a letter to the chief murderer of thegang, or to the captain of the robbers, sends Onesimus back, and"beseeches" the brigand for "his son Onesimus, " telling him that now hereceives him "forever, " and then calls the desperado "our dearly belovedfellow-laborer"! Why not, with equal propriety, if slavery be, necessarily, as our brother describes it? There is some mistake in ourbrother's theory. 

"'I venture to state the distinction which I think he overlooks, andwhich, if observed, will relieve his difficulty. Paul never denouncesgovernment; "the powers that be are ordained of God. " He appeals to"Caesar"; he goes before "Nero"; he never counsels insurrection, nordenounces government, in whatever hands or under whatever forms it maybe; but he enjoins principles and duties which, if observed, would make"Caesars, " even though they be "Neros, " blessings, and their despotismseven would cease to be a curse. So with slave-holding. It isincorporated into the state of society; it is, moreover, a relationwhich can exist and no sin be committed under the relation; hence, it isnot sin in itself, any more than the throne of Nero is sin in itself;and the Apostle speaks to the slave-holding Philemon as he would to afather receiving back a wayward son. 

"'The claim of Philemon to Onesimus rests only on his having purchasedhim. Who had a right to sell him? Trace the thing back, and you come tofraud or violence, or some form of injustice to Onesimus in making hima slave. Paul knew that this is the case with regard to every slave; yethe does not "break every yoke, " even when, as in this case, he had oneso completely in his hands, and could have broken it in pieces. 

"'But we will suppose, with my brother, that the laws which God ordainedfor slavery should prevail under Christianity, if slavery is to exist. Let every Phrygian, then, a fellow-countryman who has lost his liberty, go free at the end of six years; and at every fiftieth year, whether sixyears be completed or not, since the last seventh year of release, letall such go free. This, for argument's sake, we approve. But we musttake the whole code. Every foreigner who becomes a slave, and the childof every such slave, was to be an "inheritance forever. " Husbands, whoare Phrygians, must choose, in certain cases, whether to go out free bythemselves, or remain in perpetual bondage with their wives and theiroffspring. Paul knew the Jewish laws with regard to slavery; he knew howfavorably they compared with our code; but he says not a word on thatscore, and simply sends Onesimus back to his bondage. 

"'Yet see how beautifully the spirit of Christ works itself into therelation of master and slave, and into Paul's views and feelings withregard to it. In his letter to our Church, he expressly names Onesimusas one of the bearers of the epistle. He speaks of him as "one of you, "a resident with us; and he calls this slave "a faithful and belovedbrother. " He speaks to Philemon about him as "my son Onesimus whom Ihave begotten in my bonds;" "thou therefore receive him, that is, mineown bowels. " "Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brotherbeloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in theflesh and in the Lord. " "If thou count me, therefore, a partner, receivehim as myself. "

"'What a comment is this on the words: "In Christ Jesus there is neitherbond nor free. " Not that there shall be "no bond, " according to thebrother's interpretation; for then it would be equally right tointerpret the other part of the passage literally, --there is no Jew, noGreek, and none free! How perfectly does the relation become absorbed bythat state of heart which makes it proper for Paul to say: "Art thoucalled being a servant, care not for it; but if thou mayest be madefree, use it rather. " Notwithstanding this advice, he sends back thisman-servant. 

"'Paul might have manumitted Onesimus by his authority as an apostle;this, however, would have been rebellion against government, for ourlaws recognize slavery. 

"'My brother says that the Hebrew law forbade the surrender of afugitive slave. Yes, if the slave fled into Israel from a heathenmaster, he must not be sent back to heathenism; but'--

"'But, ' said the brother from Laodicea, 'there is no limitation of thatkind. I insist that it was of universal application to slaves of allkinds. '

"'Find the passage, if you please (in Deut. Xxiii. ), ' said the Colossianspeaker. 

"The passage was found by the pastor, and was read, as already quoted:'Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant that is escaped fromhis master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee even among you, in thatplace which he shall choose in one of thy gates where it liketh himbest; thou shalt not oppress him. ' Deut. Xxiii. 10, 15. 

"'Now, ' said Theodotus, 'it is absurd to say that God proclaimed to allthe servants throughout Israel, If any of you are dissatisfied, for anycause, and wish to run away, you may do so; and wherever you wish tolive, the people-of that place shall provide a residence for you. Afterbeing there for ever so short a time, if you do not like it, you mayflee again; and so keep moving all your lifetime, the people everywherebeing obliged to allow you a place of abode. Did the Most High mean toencourage such vagabondism?

"'No; He merely provided that a fugitive from a heathen master shouldnot be sent away from the worship of Jehovah into heathenism. '

"'That is undoubtedly the true meaning, ' said the pastor, 'if Theodotuswill allow me to put in a word. "Thee, " in that passage, means Israel asa nation, not each man. '

"'I thank you, Sir, ' said Theodotus; 'and now I maintain that theinjunction not to give up a fugitive to his heathen master, but to keephim in Israel, is a powerful argument in favor of retaining slaves wherethey will be most benefited in their spiritual concerns. God thus makesthe soul of man and its eternal welfare paramount to all externalrelations, including slavery. '

"'May I inquire, then, ' said the Laodicean: 'Suppose that Philemon hadbeen a cruel heathen master, and Onesimus had fled for his life, wouldPaul have sent him back?'

"'If the case were clear and beyond doubt, I am not sure that he would, 'said Theodotus. 'While he would not counsel Onesimus to run away, yet Ican only say, that, fleeing from certain cruelty and death, I doubt ifhe would have been remanded. But Paul told servants to be "subject totheir masters, " "not only to the good and gentle, but also to thefroward. " He speaks to them of "suffering wrongfully;" of "doing well, and suffering for it;" and he refers the suffering slave to Christ, "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not. " Moreover, he says: "For even hereunto were ye called;because Christ also _suffered for us_, leaving us an example that yeshould _follow his steps_. " That is certainly death. '

"'If Paul did not send Onesimus back to Philemon, however, it would notbe because it was wrong, in his view, for Philemon to hold him inbondage; please observe this distinction; but, judging the case byitself, he would decide whether the slave ought not, under thecircumstances, to have the right of asylum, --Paul himself having oncebeen "let down by a basket, " to escape from the Damascenes. Paul and anyother man would, in certain cases, protect even a fugitive son ordaughter from a father; and this consistently with his recognition ofthe parental and filial relation. 

"'Let me remind my brother, and you, my pastor, and my brethren, of onefact which occurs to me at the moment. Manslayers, in cities of refuge, were to go free at the death of the High Priest then in office; no suchrelease, however, was granted to the Gentile slaves, showing thatslavery was not a crime in the estimation of the Most High. Otherwise, He would have legislated for the departure of slaves from their Hebrewmasters, as He did for manslayers fleeing from the avenger of blood. Excuse the digression. The thought struck me at the moment. '

"'I put it to the brother, ' said the Laodicean, 'whether he himself wouldnot flee to Rome, were he a single man, if he should be made a slave tothat monster in human shape, Osander of Hieropolis?'

"'I cannot say, ' replied the Colossian, 'what my temptations might be, nor how well I should resist them; but slavery being incorporated intothe government, and I being, in the providence of God, sold into bondageto Osander, --I being either the child of a slave, or one of those whoare called "lawful captives, "--my race, or my capture in war, or myindebtedness, or my crimes, subjecting me to bondage according to theconstitution of government, I ought to consider my slavery as the modewhich God had chosen for me to glorify him, --by my spirit and temper, bymy words and conduct, by my Christian example in everything, for thegood of Osander's soul, and the honor of religion. I believe that Ishould please God more by staying to suffer, and even to die, than torun away. I doubt even the expediency of running away, as a generalrule. It implies a want of faith. He is the Christian hero who stayswhere God has manifestly placed him. 

"'I know, ' continued he, 'how easy it is to make this appear ridiculous;and also how often cases occur in which flight, and even the taking oflife, are proper, under extreme hardships. It is frequently the casethat a servant sees and feels his mental superiority to the man who ownshim. Now one may be so disgusted, and be so constantly vexed and chafedat this, as to make out a strong case for escaping; another, in the samecircumstances, will feel that God has placed him in charge of hismaster's soul, to please him well in all things though he be "froward. "Whether is better, to run off or to "abide"? There can be no doubt howthe Apostle would answer the question. Exceptional cases of extremedistress do not make a rule; the rule is for each one to "abide" in thecalling in which he is called of God. See what perfect insubordinationwould everywhere follow if every one who is oppressed, or believeshimself to be oppressed, should flee: children would desert theirparents; husbands and wives would flee from each other, at any supposedor real grievance. This is not the Christian rule. Patience and alllong-suffering, obedience, endurance, committing one's self to him thatjudgeth righteously, is the temper and spirit of the Gospel. This is thetone-note of the Sermon on the Mount. At the same time, who blames orjudges harshly a man in peril of his life if, in self-defence, he flees?I say that Paul would probably judge every fugitive slave case byitself. One thing is clear: It is not his rule to help a fugitive fromslavery in his flight, as a matter of course. His rule is evidently thereverse of this. I cannot argue with regard to the exceptions. Theygenerally provide each for itself. The New Testament rule is for slavesnot to run away; and for us, and for all men, not to encourage them todo so; but to encourage them to return, and to deal with the masters onsuch principles, and in such a fraternal, affectionate way, that theappeals to their Christian sensibilities may permanently affect theirconsciences and hearts. 

"'I stand by the record. Let me forsake it, and I am like Paul's shipwhen it was driving up and down in Adria, and neither sun nor starsappeared. My impulses were not given me as my guide. They are to becompared with the divine will. Many questions may be asked which Icannot answer, and many difficulties encompass this subject ofslave-holding which I cannot solve. I abide by the example and teachingsof inspired men, and am safe in following them, even if I cannotexplain everything connected with their principles and conduct to thesatisfaction of others. I only know that if our masters and servantswould take the Apostle Paul's Epistle to Philemon as the rule of theirspirit and life, there would be no such thing as oppression, norfugitive servants. Now, as to revolutionizing society to eradicateslavery, I would no more attempt it than I would try to dig down Cadmusto dislodge yonder snow and ice upon his top. The sun will in due timemelt them and pour them into the Lycus and the Moeander. So the Gospel, when it has free course, will dissolve every chain, break every yoke, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. '

 * * * * *

"Philemon was now the first to rise. 

"'I am the master to whom Paul the Apostle sends back my fugitiveservant. This man, Onesimus, is my brother in Christ; in heaven, it maybe, I shall see him far above me as a faithful servant of our commonLord. He has given a proof of obedience to the Gospel, of submission, ofpatience and long suffering, of implicit compliance with the rules ofChrist, which excite my Christian emulation. My endeavor shall be toimitate Onesimus as he has imitated Christ, and to surpass him inlikeness to that Lord who is meek and lowly in heart. The bonds whichhold Onesimus to me are no stronger than those which bind me to him. (Great sensation and much emotion. ) Can I ever treat this servant in anunfeeling manner? Can I recklessly sell him? Can I deprive him ofcomforts? Can I fail to provide for his highest happiness? God do so tome and more also, if I prove deficient in these particulars. 

"'Let me ask, What would be the state of things among us if the benigninfluences of Christian love pervaded every case of slave-holding as, bythe grace of God, I hope it will in my case? We must have a servingclass; our customs and laws ordain the relationship of involuntaryservitude, property in the services of others, by purchase of theirpersons. While this is so, suppose that every servant is an Onesimus andevery master such as I ought to be, under the influence of the ApostlePaul's directions! It is plain that in no way can we better promote thespiritual and eternal good of certain men, as the times are, than bystanding in the relation of Christian masters to them. This is the greatthing with Paul. We can mitigate the sorrows of their bondage; we cancompensate for the appointments of providence reducing them to slavery, by making them the freemen of Christ. While this state of thingscontinues, it may be a blessing to both parties. God will open a way forany change which he decrees in our social relation, in his own time andmanner. 

"'Now, let us suppose what would happen if, departing from the rule andexample of Paul, we follow the counsels of our good brother fromLaodicea. The community would be in constant excitement by the departureof servants asserting each his natural liberty; laws would become rigid;hardships would be multiplied; cruelties would be perpetuated;insurrections would become frequent; sacrifices of servants, theinnocent with the guilty, would be made to deter from insubordination. Instead of the spirit of the Gospel in our dwellings, alienations, suspicion, jealousy, wrangling, strife, and every form of evil wouldprevail. He is no real friend of servant or master who would enforce theprinciples of our Laodicean brother. I adhere to the Apostle. Ifquestioned as to my right to hold Onesimus in bondage, the answerimmediately suggested is that an inspired Apostle sanctions it in mycase. If right in my case, it is right in principle; for ifslave-holding be a violation of rights, I am guilty of that violation, however humane a master I may be. The Apostle does not reprove me, norrequire me to manumit Onesimus, but tells me that I now receive him"forever, " and he teaches me how to treat him. I could occupy your timeby arguing the abstract question relating to property in the services ofmen, --but I rest my case for the present on the letter of Paul theApostle, brought to me by the hand of my fugitive servant, returning towhat the laws call his bonds. 

"'Let me add a few words, however, on the general subject, to theargument of Theodotus. 

"'Our good brother from Laodicea tells us that slavery and polygamy are"twin barbarisms. " He argues that slavery was winked at, like polygamy;was "suffered, " by the Most High. But I propose to refute this, and Iwill throw myself on your candor to judge if I succeed. 

"'God, in Eden, appointed the marriage of one man and one woman to bethe law of matrimony. "And wherefore one?" says the prophet. "He had theresidue of the spirit, " and could have ordained otherwise. "Whereforeone?" The answer is, "that he might seek a godly seed. " The arrangementwas for the highest elevation of the race. 

"'Polygamy is in direct conflict with the ordinance of God. Of courseGod never ordained it. On the contrary, the appointment in Eden wasequivalent to a prohibitory act, which Jesus Christ revived, forbiddingpolygamy, and the Apostles have enjoined upon us that we observe the lawof marriage as given in paradise. 

"'So much for polygamy. God never recognized it. The edict requiringthe marriage of a childless widow to the brother of her husband, takesit for granted that a man would leave but one widow. 

"'But how is it with slavery? God never forbade it; he recognized it;when He framed the Jewish code it was perfectly easy to exclude slavery;but hardly are the Ten Commandments out of his lips when He ordainsslave-holding, gives particular directions about it, decrees thatcertain persons shall be an inheritance forever. Jesus Christ neveruttered one word against slavery, though he did against polygamy; theApostles have never written nor preached to us against slavery, but onthe contrary here is the Apostle to the Gentiles sending back a servantescaped from his master; and in that letter on the pastor's table heenjoins duties on masters and slaves. I have confidence that my brotherwill not again class slavery with polygamy, for it would be a reflectionupon divine wisdom and justice. 

"'One thing more. My brother says slavery is the sum of all villanies. 

"'But did not the Most High God place his people in slavery for seventyyears, in Babylon? This does not prove that slavery is a good thing, initself; for by the same proof heathenism might be shown to be ablessing. Slavery was a curse, a punishment; but still, God would nothave made use of slavery to punish his people, if, theoretically andpractically, it is by necessity all which my brother alleges. It surelydid not, in that case, prove a "villany" to Babylon. They were the bestseventy years of their probationary state, when that people held theJews in captivity. Now I beg not to be misunderstood nor to have mymeaning perverted. I am not pleading for slavery. I simply say that Godwould not have put his people, whom He had not cast off forever, intoslavery, if slavery, _per se_, were the sum of all villanies, or, if thepractical effect of it on them would be, necessarily, destruction, orinconsistent with his purposes of benevolence. I will add, that everypeople and every man, who hold others in bondage, should be admonishedthat when God puts his captives, his bondmen, into their hands, He ismost jealous of the manner in which the trust is discharged. I do think, I say it here with all possible emphasis, it is the most delicate, themost solemn, the most awful responsibility, to stand in the relation ofmaster to a bondman. 

 * * * * *

"No further discussion was had at that time, the hour being late, and sothe meeting was closed with prayer and singing. Masters and servantsjoined to chant a hymn, of which the following, written many years afterby Gregory of Nazianzum, might almost seem to be the expansion:--

 "'Christ, my Lord, I come to bless Thee, Now when day is veiled in night, Thou who knowest no beginning, Light of the eternal light. 

 "'Thou hast set the radiant heavens, With thy many lamps of brightness, Filling all the vaults above; Day and night in turn subjecting To a brotherhood of service, And a mutual law of love. 

 "'Own me, then, at last, thy servant, When thou com'st in majesty; Be to me a pitying Father, Let me find thy grace and mercy; And to Thee all praise and glory Through the endless ages be. '

"Leaning on the arm of Onesimus, Philemon returned to bless hishousehold. 

 * * * * *

"Thus far, " said I, "you have my Night Thoughts. " I asked Mr. North ifhe accepted the present New Testament Canon as correct? He said that hedid. I then inquired if he regarded the Scriptures as the only andsufficient rule of faith and practice. 

To this he also agreed. I then asked him if he did not think that, inmaking up the canon, that is, in directing what books and epistlesshould go into it, God had reference to the wants of all coming times?He signified his assent. I then asked his attention to a few thoughtsconnected with that point. 

"Here is the Epistle to Philemon, placed by the hand of the Holy Spirithimself in the Sacred Canon. It is on a small piece of parchment, easilylost; the wind might have blown it from Philemon's table out of thewindow, beyond recovery; it was not addressed to a Church, to be kept inits archives; it is a private letter, subject to every change in thecondition of a private citizen. Yet, while the epistle to Laodicea, sentabout the same time, is irrecoverably lost, this little writing, addressed to a private man, goes into the Bible, by direction of God!

"Do you not suppose, " said I, "that God had a meaning in this beyondmerely informing us how a master received a servant back to bondage?"

"What further purpose do you think there was in it?" said he. 

"I only know, " said I, "that slave-holding was to be a subject, as hasproved to be the case, which would involve the interests of at leasttwo of the continents of the earth, one of them being then unknown. Herethe Church of God was to have large increase. Here, too, slavery was toexist, and to thrill the hearts of millions of citizens from generationto generation. It is very remarkable that one book of the Bible, whichwas to be made known to all nations by the commandment of theeverlasting God, for the obedience of faith, should be exclusively onthe subject of slavery, and that the whole burden of the Epistle shouldbe, The Rendition of a Fugitive Slave!"

"This never occurred to me before, " said Mr. North. 

"Suppose, " said I, "that instead of sending back Onesimus, the epistlehad been a private letter from Archippus at Colosse to Paul at Rome, clandestinely aiding Onesimus to escape from Philemon, and that Paul hadreceived Onesimus and had harbored him, and had sent him forth as amissionary, and that not one word of comment had appeared in the Biblediscountenancing the act. What would have happened then?"

"Then, " said Mrs. North, "one thing is certain; the business of runningoff slaves to Canada would now have been more brisk even than it is atpresent. "

"Why?" said I. 

"Simply because, " said she, "the New Testament would have sanctioned thepractice of running off slaves. "

"Why, then, " said I, "does it not now equally countenance the 'running'of slaves back to their masters?"

"Please answer that for me, husband, " said Mrs. North. 

He smiled, and rose to put some coal on the fire. We waited for hiswords. 

"Well, " said he, "I do not know but it is all right, provided the masterbe in each case a Philemon. "

"That is a good word, " said I. "You show that the Bible has anascendency in your mind. You will be safe in following the Biblewherever it leads you, even into slave-holding, if it goes so far. But Imust now question you a little. You may answer me or not, as you please. 

"One day a black man appears at your door, and says, 'I have justescaped from the South. I was owned by Rev. Professor A. B. Of NewOrleans. I preferred liberty to slavery, and here I am. ' Would youshelter him, and encourage his remaining here, and, if necessary, sendhim to Canada?"

"What would you have me do?" said he. 

"Take him in, " said I, "if you please, and give him some breakfast. Youwould not object to this. After breakfast you have family prayers. 'Canyou read, Nesimus?' you inquire. 'O yes, master; missis and the youngmissises taught us all to read. ' Your little boy hands him, with therest, a Testament, and names the place of reading. Strange to say, yesterday you finished 'Titus, ' and the portion to be read in course is'Philemon!'"

"Almost a providence, " said Mrs. North. 

"How would you feel, Mr. North?" said I. 

"Why, feel? How should I feel?" said he. "You will answer for me, perhaps, and say, 'Read Philemon; pray; and then say, Come, Nesimus, Iam going to send you back to Professor A. B. I will write a letter tohim, and pay your passage. '"

"What objection would you make to this?" said I. 

He thought a moment, and in the meanwhile his shrewd wife said, --

"Why, husband, do you hesitate? Say this: 'What! I? and Bunker Hillwithin a day's march of my house, and grandfather's old sword over mylibrary door?'"

"I am sick of hearing about Bunker Hill in this connection, " said he. "Any one would think that it is one of the 'sacred mountains' in HolyWrit. "

"But, " said his wife, "If some of Paul's ancestors had had Bunker Hillprivileges and influences, do you think Paul would have written theEpistle to Philemon? Unfortunate Apostle! Say, " said his wife again, before he spoke, "that you believe in progress, that that epistle mighthave been right enough in its day, but that now 'we need an anti-slaveryBible and an anti-slavery God. '"

She made up a very expressive smile as she said it and stretched herwork across her knee. 

"Yes, " said I, "the Bible is antiquated! God never gave a writtenrevelation to be a perpetual guide to the end of time! I can supersedethe Epistle to Philemon: Mrs. North, Hebrews; you, James; and anotherthe whole of the Old Testament. "

"Now, " said Mr. North, "I will tell you what I have been thinking of allthis time. 

"I will put you into bondage in Algiers or Tunis. Somebody has boughtyou or captured you. But by some means you escape to me at Gibraltar. Now I will read 'Philemon' to you, and send you back to your Algerinemaster. What objection can you make to this, as a believer ininspiration?"

I answered, "If I were a slave in my own country, and slavery existed inAlgiers, you would need to consider the relation which existed betweenthis country and Algiers. If the governments had treaties with eachother, the surrender of persons held to service in either of thecountries would probably be provided for, and then you would have toconsider whether you would obey what is called the 'higher law, ' oryield me to the requisition of the proper authorities. This brings upthe question of the rendition of fugitive slaves, which we have justconsidered. 

"But being free in my own country, and having been, therefore, unlawfully sold into Algerine Slavery, or having been captured, orstolen, you would, I trust, make proper resistance in my behalf. "

"But, " said Mr. North, "The ancestors of my fugitive friend Nesimus, were taken from freedom in their own land and were reduced to slavery. Must he and his descendants be slaves forever for the sin of theoriginal captors, or for the misfortune of his ancestors?"

"Birth in slavery long established makes all the difference in theworld, Mr. North, " said I. "If I am born in slavery, under a governmentordaining slavery, that is a different case from that of one taken outof a passenger ship and sold as a slave. "

"Then if you and your wife, " said he, "were taken out of a passengership, and you should happen to have a child born in slavery, that childmust remain a slave, even if you go free?"

"No, Sir, " said I; "the child born under such circumstances is asrightfully free as its parents. But take this case: I, being capturedand held as a slave, my master gives me a wife, lawfully a slave. Then, the child born of her is lawfully a slave. You see the distinction. Godrecognized it. The condition of both is a limitation and qualificationof natural rights. So the lapse of time qualifies the right to collectdebts, bring suits for libel, or slander, and for the right of way, orfor the possession of land. Will we live under law? or shall each manor any set of men set up laws for their own conscience?"

"Then, " said he, "If a slave-trader lands a cargo of slaves from Africa, at Florida, I have no right to buy them; they are not lawfully slaves. Is that your belief?"

"Assuredly, " said I; "and if the fugitive whom I have supposed you to besending back to the gentleman at New Orleans, were a fugitive from thecargo just imported from Africa, you would be sustained by the law ofthe land in delivering him from bondage; he was piratically taken; thelaws would make him free, and punish his captors, if the laws werefaithfully executed. "

"But a poor fellow born in slavery must remain a slave!" he replied. 

"He is not lawfully a slave, " I said, "if his parents were both of thatcargo. But if his father had received a wife from his master, then thechild is lawfully a slave. "

"How do you establish that distinction?" said he. 

"The child is born of one known to be, herself, lawfully a slave. It isborn under a constitution of government which recognizes slavery; whilethat government provides for slavery, the child must submit or violatean ordinance of God, unless freedom can be had by law, or by justifiablerevolution. "

"I feel constrained, " said Mr. North "to hold that liberty is theinalienable right of every human being, except in cases of crime. "

"You mean, " said I, "that every human being is entitled to all the civilrights and immunities which others enjoy. "

"Yes, " said he, "in proportion to his age, and his capacity. Minors, andthe imbecile, are entitled to protection, but may not be oppressed. "

"Ah, " said I, "how soon you find your general rules intercepted andqualified by circumstances. Minors, and the imbecile, then, may not beadmitted to equal privileges with us. But are not all men born free andequal?"

"Now let me add to 'minors' and 'the imbecile' one more class. There aretwo races existing together in a certain country. One has always been, there, a servile race. The other are the lords of the soil; theinstitutions of the country are by their creation; they have acquired aperfect right and title to the government. 

"You know, from all history, that two races never could, and never didlive together on the same soil, unless they intermarried, or one wassubject to the other. You admit this historical fact. 

"It is proposed, now, by some, to give the subject race a right to voteand to hold office, so that their equality in all things shall beacknowledged. "

"Pray, " said Mr. North, "will you object to this? Has not God 'made ofone blood all nations of men'?"

"Yes, " I replied, "but read on, in that same verse:--'and hathdetermined the bounds of their habitation. ' There is a law of races;races must have antipathies, unless they intermarry; he who seeks toconfound them may as well labor for the conjugation of all the tribes ofanimals. He and his results would prove to be monsters. 

"The Anglo Saxon race on this continent properly say to the Negro, 'Ifby conquest you get possession of the land, we must, of course, succumbto you. We are now in possession, and mean so to continue. Hard, therefore, as it seems not to let you vote in parts of the country whereyour numbers are such as to endanger our majority, or afford temptationto demagogues to inflame your prejudices and passions by historicalappeals to them, and severe as it may seem not to let you form militarycompanies, (which would also be mischievous in the same way) wenevertheless propose to exclude you from this right of suffrage, andfrom separate organizations, for our own defence, and that we maypreserve our institutions for our proper descendants. We are very sorrythat our English ancestors began to impose you upon us, and that Newportand Salem vessels brought so many of you here into slavery; but wecannot think of requiting you for this by jeoparding our own peace; norwould it be kind to you, as things are, to be made prominent in any wayas a class. When the Northern people are, generally, your true friends, and cease to use you in an offensive manner, to excite civil war, weshall join to elevate you in every way consistent with your trueinterests. '

"There will be cases of extreme hardship, " said I, "if a slave, fleeingfrom the South, however unjustifiably, nevertheless becomes surroundedhere with a family, and the owner comes and claims him. There areprinciples of natural humanity which come into force at such a time tomodify or set aside a claim. I know, indeed, that to build a valuablehouse on land not mine, does not vacate the land-owner's title; and, moreover, I know what may be alleged on the principle illustrated byPaley, who speaks of a man finding a stick and bestowing labor on itwhich is more in value than the stick itself. These cases of slaves whohave gained a settlement here, call for the utmost kindness andforbearance between the sectional parties in controversy; clamor willnever settle them, nor the sword; but the reign of good feeling willcause justice to flow down our streets like a river, and righteousnesslike an overflowing stream. "

"As we have conversed a good deal upon this subject, " said Mr. North, "perhaps we may bring our conversation to a close as profitably as inany other way by your telling us, summarily, what you think of thiswhole perplexing subject; what would you have me believe; how ought aChristian man, who desires to know and do the will of God, to feel andto act with regard to it? Good men, I see, are divided about it; Irespect your motives, I approve many of your principles, I cannot objectto your conclusions, in the main. Let us know what you consider to be, probably, the ultimate issue of the whole subject. "

"I will do so with pleasure, " said I. 

"But, " said Mrs. North, "let us wait till after dinner. "

"As the storm is over, " I said to her, "I must go home, but we will haveone more council fire, if you please, and end the subject. "

So in the afternoon, my kind friends gave me their attention while Imade my summing up in the next and concluding chapter. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE FUTURE. 

 "It is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind rest in providence, move in charity, and turn upon the poles of truth. "

 LORD BACON. 

"Slavery, as human nature now is, cannot be otherwise than one of theAlmighty's curses upon any race which is subject to bondage. 

"True, it may nevertheless, be an amelioration of their original state;they may fall into the hands of a Christian people, and hundreds ofthousands of them be civilized, and be converted to Christianity;redeemed from a barbarous condition they may contribute immensely to thegeneral good of the race both as producers and consumers. Wherevercommerce needs them, unquestionably they will do more good to the worldby being compelled to work than by wearing out their miserable anduseless existence in Africa. 

"All this may be true; still, is it not a curse to be hewers of wood anddrawers of water? Does not God say to Israel that if they sin, they'shall be the tail and not the head?' National degradation, exposing apeople to be the prey and the captives of a superior race, is, ofcourse, a curse, though, like death itself, and even sin, it may, by thegrace of God, turn to good. Still, it is a curse. 

"But in governing a fallen world like ours, God now and then ordainsthe subjection of one race to another; and he makes bondage one of hisordinances as truly as war. The extermination of the Canaanites by thesword, was an ordinance of Heaven. War is a part of God's method ingoverning the world; as well as sickness and death. 

"I never had any sympathy for that amiable but weak concern for thecharacter of God which represents him as finding slavery in existenceand merely legislating about it, and doing the best he can with aninevitable evil. This view belongs to a system which makes God, as itseems to me, the most unhappy Being, continually striving to destroythat which sprung up contrary to his plan. To dwell on this, however, would lead us too far into theological questions. 

"I tremble to think of our responsibility as a nation in being put incharge of a people with whom God has some terrible controversy for theirown sins and those of their ancestors. 

"Through our abuse of power, God may say to us, 'I was a little angry, and ye helped on the affliction. ' God's purposes in having the chastisednation afflicted, will be accomplished, but He will punish every one whoinflicts the chastisement with a selfish, unchristian spirit. 

"Our people generally take it for granted that slavery is like one ofthe self-limiting diseases of childhood, to be outgrown, and to ceaseforever, in process of time, and before many years have passed away. 

"The ground of this conclusion is a doctrinal error, namely, thatslave-holding, the relation of master and servant, ownership, propertyin man, or by whatever name slavery may be designated, is in itselfwrong, and that as soon as practicable it will be abjured and no manwill stand to another in the relation of master, or owner. But whetherfor good or for ill, slavery will be in existence at the last day. Weread that 'every bondman and every freeman' will see the sign of the Sonof Man. 

"But should slavery be at any time, or in any country, or part of acountry, utterly extinguished, it will ever remain true that ownership, or property in man is not in itself wrong, and that it may be benevolentto all concerned. It is interesting to recollect that in proportion ashuman relations are cardinal, or vital, they approach most nearly toownership, as in the case of parent and child. The highest relation ofall, that between man and God, finds its most perfect expression interms conveying the idea of ownership on the part of God. 'For ye arenot your own;--therefore glorify God in your body and spirit which areGod's. ' If God should send one of us to a distant part of the universe, under the charge of an angel, where superior intelligence and wisdomwere needful for our safety in temptation and amid the bewilderingexcitements of new scenes, ownership for the time being, absolutedominion over us, on the part of the angel, would be in the highestmeasure benevolent. In those days when universal love reigns, it is justas likely as not that there will be more 'ownership' in man than everbefore. By ownership I mean such relationships as we see in thehouseholds of those who are represented in the letter of the Southernlady to her father. There we see the weak, the unfortunate, thedependent nature clinging to the stronger, and receiving support andcomfort, and even honor, from those who in rendering kindness and inreceiving service have their whole being refined and cultivated to thehighest degree. There are no rigors in those relationships; everythingwhich contributes to the welfare and happiness of a serving class isenjoyed, and all its liabilities to care and sorrow are removed, to asgreat a degree as ever happens in this world. 

"Allowing that there are always to be inequalities of mind andcondition, and that what we call menial services will need to beperformed; that there must be those who will have a disposition andtaste to work over a fire all day and prepare food; and that men ofbusiness or study will not all be able to groom their own horses andwash their vehicles; and that possibly the Coleridges and Southeys, andtheir friends the Joseph Cottles, may, from being absorbed in theirideal pursuits, still be ignorant of the way to get off a collar from ahorse's neck, and must call upon a servant-girl to help them, we shallneed those who will be glad to be servants forever, and who will requirefor their own security that their employers shall 'own' them, and thusbe made responsible for their support and protection. This may always benecessary for the highest welfare of all concerned. But the history ofthis relationship in connection with our human nature has been such, toa great extent, that we associate with it only the idea of pillage, oppression, cruelty. Already there are cases without number in which nosuch idea would ever be suggested to a spectator, and they will increasein proportion as Christianity prevails. There is more real 'freedom' inthousands of these cases of nominal slavery than in thousands who arenominally free. How did it happen that the Hebrew servant, who chose tostay with his master rather than leave his wife and children, was notmade nominally free, and apprenticed or hired? Why was his ear bored, and perpetual relations secured between him and his master?"

"For the master's security, I presume, " said Mr. North. 

"I should say, " said I, "for the mutual benefit of both. The master thenbecame responsible for him; his support was a lien on his estate, thechildren must always be responsible for his maintenance. The awl made itsrecord in the master's door-post, as well as in the servant's ear. 

"Now, suppose, " said I, "that God chooses to supply this nation withmenial servants to the end of time. Suppose that he has designed thatone race, the African, shall be the source from which he will draw thissupply, and that down through long generations he proposes to make thisblack race our servants, seeking at the same time, by means of this, their elevation, by connecting them with us, and keeping up therelation; and that for the permanence of the relation, and for thesecurity of all concerned, there should be 'ownership, ' such as hehimself ordained when he prescribed the boring of the ear? For my part, I cannot see in this 'the sum of all villanies, ' 'an enormous wrong, ' 'astupendous injustice. ' Yet this would be slavery. I am not arguing forsuch a constitution of things. As was before observed, the whole blackrace may, in a few years, be swept off from the country; but who willundertake to say that, as the people of other nations have been employedby Providence to make our railroads and canals, the black race may notbe employed for a much longer term to be our servants, both North andSouth, both East and West? And who will say that the tenure of'ownership' may not be the wisest and most benevolent arrangement forall concerned? I repeat it, I am not arguing for this; I am only tryingto show you that the present abuses in slavery are no valid argumentagainst the relation itself; that this may remain when the abuses cease, and therefore that at the present time we ought to discriminate in ourarguments against slavery, and direct our assaults, if we continue to beassailers, against its abuses. "

"On one disagreeable subject, " I said to him aside, "I will make thisgeneral remark: The Southern slaves are, as a whole, a religious people;their religion, indeed, is of a type corresponding to their condition. But still, if the South were one festering pool of iniquity, as many atthe North fancy, would the colored people show such evidences as they doof moral and spiritual improvement? Look at Hayti. A very large majorityof the children are not born in wedlock. Slavery is a moral restraintupon the Southern colored people. Evil as slavery is, it is, in manythings, taking the slaves as they are, a comparative blessing. "

"But, " said Mr. North, "our people generally insist that abuses, oppression, cruelty, are so inherent in slavery that they cannot beremoved without destroying the relation itself. "

"Here, " said I, "is the mistake under which Southerners perceive that welabor, and which prevents us from having the least influence with them. 

"This, however, is unquestionably true: as human nature is, we would notchoose to give men unlimited power over their fellow-men who are slaves. If, in the course of events, it is found by good men that the abusesflowing from such power are inevitable, that legislative enactments andpublic opinion cannot control the relation, their consciences will notbe quiet till it is abolished. I am willing to confide this to men asgood as we, acting as they will on their responsibility to God. It maybe, that the system, stripped of everything which can be taken away, will be perpetuated, for the best good of the slave and his master. 

"But, " said I, "while this perpetual relation of the black race to us ispossible, and may be the design of a benevolent God for our happinessand that of the Africans, and while I love to use it in replying tothose who, with short-sighted and somewhat passionate reasoning, as Ithink, contend that slavery must utterly be rooted out of the land, Iconfess that my own thoughts turn to the Continent of Africa as thegreat object for which an all-wise God has permitted slavery to exist onour shores. 

"I love to look at American slavery in connection with the futurehistory of that great African continent, containing one hundred andfifty millions of people. History and discovered relics make theEthiopian race to be older even than Egypt. The once powerful nations ofNorthern Africa, Numidia, Mauratania, as well as the Egyptian buildersof pyramids, have disappeared, or they exist only in a few Coptictribes; and even they are of doubtful origin. But the Ethiopian people, notwithstanding the slave-trade which has extended its degradinginfluence far and wide among them, and though civilization long sincedeparted from their tribes, have continued to increase till now they arethe most numerous of the human families except the Chinese. Theslave-holding nations which have pillaged them forages, have not beenable to destroy them. Ethiopia may well say, stretching out her hands toGod, 'Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with allthy waves. ' It is sublime to think what triumphs of redemption there areyet to be on that African continent. But how little, apparently, fromall that they ever say, do some of our abolitionist friends seem tothink about Africa as a future jewel in Immanuel's diadem! Utterlyforeign from all their thoughts appears to be the great plan ofProvidence which by means even of slavery in this land, has done so muchto extend the work of human salvation among the African race. And thereare some ministers of the Gospel and professed Christians, I regret toobserve, who reply to all that you say about the vast proportion, towhite converts, of converts among the colored people, in a manner whichwould awaken great fears in the most charitable breast with regard totheir own personal interest in the salvation by Christ, did we not allknow how far we may be blinded by passion. If you visit in the South, you will find that African missions take the deepest hold on the heartsof Southern Christians. The time will come, God hasten it! when they andwe will be united in plans and efforts for the good of the African race. 

"But I am not in favor of stealing Africans from their native land tobring them here, even though it were certain that the majority of themwould be converted to God. We are not to do evil that good may come. IfProvidence makes it plain that tribes of them shall be removed to newdistricts of our country, suitable measures can and will be devised forthat purpose. That they are better off here, even in slavery, than intheir own land, under present circumstances, I do not see how any onecan question; but that does not justify man-stealing. I remember to haveseen a letter from a Missionary in Africa, in which he says, speaking ofthe slaves and of the South, 'Would that all Africa were there; wouldthat tribes of this unhappy people could be transferred to theprivileges which the slaves at the South enjoy. I would rather take mychance of a good or bad master, and be a slave at the South, than be asone of these heathen people. In saying this, I refer both to this worldand the next'. I need not say, he is an enemy to the slave-trade. 

"A missionary who had spent much time among the Zulu people, wasappealed to by a zealous anti-slavery person to commiserate our slavesas being so much worse off than the Zulus. 'Madam, ' said he, 'if ourZulus were in the condition of your slaves, eternity would not be longenough to give thanks. '

"Mrs. North, " said I, "you will not impute it to mere gallantry when Iappeal to you if we may not generally measure the refinement andelevation of society by the position of woman, and by the sentiments andmanners of the other sex with regard to yours. The deference, thedelicate attentions, the gentleness, the refinement of behavior, in wordand act, which you inspire, are both the means and the evidence of thehighest cultivation. In public and in private life, in assemblies, public conveyances, at table, around the evening lamp, in all theintercourse of the family, the susceptibility of impression, therestraints and the chastised utterances, in word and action, ofhusbands, fathers, brothers and friends, which are due to the presenceof woman, are a correct gauge of civilization and refinement. "

"All right, " said Mr. North, bowing very politely to his wife. 

"Nowhere, " said I, "do we see this more conspicuously than in Southernsociety. Chivalry there seems to blend with the genial influences ofChristianity, and together they give a tone and manner to Southern lifewhich is peculiar. 

"I am often struck with a Southern gentleman's reverence, here at theNorth, for the female sex. He is displeased at seeing daughters servingat table in boarding-houses kept by their worthy parents or widowedmothers. We, indeed, respect a young woman who serves us in this manner, (if we reflect at all, ) and we resent rudeness or an unfeeling mode ofaddressing those who are in such situations. But the Southern gentlemangoes further. He has, perhaps, not been accustomed to see the daughterof a white family serve. When a respectable young woman, therefore, at aboarding-house, brings him his tea, he feels impelled to rise and askher to be seated, and to wait upon her. I have been an eye-witness toscenes of this kind, and have been much pleased and not a little amusedat some exhibitions of the feeling. If our sentiments toward the sex, and their position in social life, mark the degree of civilization andcultivation in a community, I am compelled to accord a high degree of itto Southern society, in its best estate. 

"This is one effect of slavery. It takes mothers, wives, daughters, awayfrom occupations which, though honorable, do not always elevate them inthe eyes of the other sex. Perhaps there is no value (and some will sayit) in all this; that every labor and service is right and good forwoman; and that we are to prefer a state of society where woman doesthese things with her own hands, instead of having them done for her, and that this is our only safeguard against luxury and degeneracy. Iwill not debate it. I am only showing that, tried by an ordinarytest, --the position of woman, --Southerners are really not barbarians. "

"I verily believe, " said Mrs. North, "that if you take the Southernconstitution and give it a Northern training, the result is as perfect aspecimen of man or woman as is to be found on earth. "

"People at the North, " said I, "may, in their zeal against slavery, makelight of the abounding sustenance which the slaves enjoy, and call it alow and gross thing in comparison with 'freedom;' but, in the view ofall political economists and publicists, how to feed the lower classesis a great problem. It is solved in slavery. 

"There is another topic, " I added, "which is interesting and important. 

"Here, " said I, taking a newspaper-slip from my wallet, "is somethingwhich fairly made me weep. It is a picture of one of our poor, virtuous, honest New England homes, in which I would rather dwell and suffer, thanbe an 'oppressor' with my hundreds of slaves, and wealth counted byhundreds of thousands. A slave-holder, blessed be God, is not a synonymeof 'oppressor;' nor are the slaves as a matter of course 'oppressed. 'Our people to a great extent think otherwise, and it is useful to seehow we appear to others when this error leads us into folly. This littlepicture in the newspaper-slip gives us a transient look into an abodewhose honest poverty and want are made more painful by evil-doing underthe influence of fanaticism. "

I then read to my friends the following from a Southern paper;--I hereomit the names which are given in full:--

"The touching letter which was found on the body of ---- ----, one ofthe insurgents, from his sister in ----, ----, has been published. Thefollowing paragraph in that letter is a suggestive one:

"'Would you come home if you had the money to come with? Tell me whatit would cost. Oh! I would be unspeakably happy if it were in my powerto send you money, but we have been very poor this winter. I have notearned a half-dollar this winter. Mattie has had a very good place, where she has had seventy-five cents a week; she has not spent any of itin the family, only a very little for mother. Father has had very smallpay, but I think he has more now; he is a watchman on the ---- ----, that runs from here to ----. '

"Here, says the Southern editor, is a family, one of thousands offamilies in New England in similar circumstances, where one daughterthinks it a 'very good place' where she can get seventy-five cents aweek; another has not earned a half-dollar during the winter, and allare 'very poor;' yet the son and brother goes off and deserts a motherand sisters thus situated, --a mother and sisters who, though poor, haveevidently the most affectionate feelings and tender sensibilities, --forthe purpose of liberating a class of people, not one of whom knowsanything of the want or privation from which his own family issuffering, or who would not look without contempt upon such remunerationas seemed the height of good fortune to the destitute sisters and motherof this abolitionist. When we bear in mind the intelligence andsensibilities which characterize the wives and daughters of the poorestclasses equally with the richest in New England, it is most amazing thatmen should overlook such misery at their own doors--nay, should forsaketheir own kith and kin who are suffering under it--the mother who borethem, the sisters who love them with all a sister's tender andsolicitous love, and run off to emancipate the fattest, sleekest, mostcontented and unambitious race under heaven. "

"This shows, " said I, "how God has set one thing over against another, in this world. You and Mrs. Worth and myself would rather be the poorhonest 'watchman, ' or earn our 'seventy-five cents a week, ' with'Mattie, ' or even, with the loving sister who writes this letter, 'not'have 'earned a half-dollar this winter, ' than be the 'sleekest' ofwell-fed slaves. 

"Yet, when we are summing up the evils of slavery in the form ofindictments, we must honestly confess that it is no small thing to feeda whole laboring class in one half of a great country with bread enoughand to spare. "

Mrs. North asked if I had ever seen a slave-mart, or if I knew much byobservation of the domestic slave-trade. 

"Yes, " said I, "and it is in connection with this feature of slaverythat we at the North are most easily and most painfully affected. Someof the most agonizing scenes are enacted at these auctions. They are apart of slavery; so is the domestic slave-trade, which is the necessaryremoval of the slaves from places where they cannot have employment, toregions where their labor is in demand. In no other way can they bedisposed of, unless they are at once freed; and with many the evils ofthe domestic slave-trade are the most powerful argument in favor ofemancipation. That there are grievous trials and sorrows, as well aswrongs and violence, in the disposal of slaves, is known to all. As tothose who are to remain within the State, we are told to go, if we will, and inquire into the history of slaves who are to be publicly sold, andtake the number of cases in which a wanton disregard of a slave'sfeelings can be detected. An owner is compelled to part with hisproperty in his slave; or, the slave is taken for debt; estates are tobe divided; an owner dies intestate; titles are to be settled, mortgages foreclosed, the number of the household is to be reduced; andfor these and numerous other reasons new owners are to be sought for theslaves. Here is a man and his wife and children to be sold. There is ageneral interest felt in arranging the sale so that the family may be inthe same neighborhood. This is for the interest of the owners; itpromotes contentment and cheerfulness in the servants. Cases of hardshipare the exceptions to the general rule in disposing of servants. Admitting all that can properly be said of such cases, and of thevarious other evils connected with it, the question recurs, What is tobe done but increasingly to mitigate the sorrows of the bondmen, tocultivate a kind and generous disposition toward them, and to preparethem, as far and as fast as the good of all concerned will warrant, forany other condition which Providence may in time point out? My beliefis, that if you take four millions of laboring people anywhere under thesun, and put down in separate columns the good and the evil in theirconditions, the balance of welfare and happiness, from the supply oftheir wants, will be found to be greater among our Southern slaves thanelsewhere. But, still, this leaves them slaves. My reply to myself, whenI say this, is, They were so in their own land; or, they were in acondition of fearful degradation and misery. Their God is their judge;we have not increased their degradation; woe to us if we add needlesssorrows to their lot. But as for thrusting them up to an ideal state ofelevation, before their time and ours has come, I am not disposed to aidin it. Moreover, Southern Christians are doing all that we would do ifin their place; I will not affect to be more humane or just than they;this is our great error. 

"Here, " said I, "is another view of the subject":

 "In the sale of slaves (in America) nothing but labor is transferred. It passes from master to master, as it passes, in countries of hired labor, from employer to employer. The mode in which the transfer is made differs in the two systems of labor. The slave-laborer is never compelled to hunt for work and starve till he finds it. Is this an evil to the laborer? Would it be thought an evil, by the hired man in Europe, that his employer should be obliged, by-law, to find him another employer before dismissing him from service?

 "But, it is said, the slave is too much exposed to the master's abuse of power; he is liable to wrongs without a remedy; and, so far, his condition is below that of the hired laborer. 

 "If this be true at all, it is true as regards the able-bodied hired man only. But take into the account children and women, those, for example, that work naked in coal-mines, or wives whose sufferings from the brutal treatment of husbands daily fill the reports of police courts; take these into the reckoning, and the difference in the consequences of abused power will be very small. The negro-slave is as thoroughly protected as any laborer in Europe. He is protected from every other man's wrong-doing by the ready interference of his master; he is guarded from the master's abuse by the laws of the land, and a vigilant, earnest public opinion. Let all cruelty be punished; let all abuse of power be restrained; but to abolish the relation of master and slave, because there are bad masters and ill-treated slaves, would not be a whit wiser than to abolish marriage, because there are brutal husbands and murdered wives. 

 "Yet, surely, it will be said, it must be admitted, after all, that slavery is an evil. Yes, certainly, it is an evil; but in the same sense only in which servitude or hired labor is an evil. To gain one's bread by the sweat of one's brow, is a curse. But it is a curse attended with a blessing. It is an evil that shuts out a greater evil. Labor for wages, labor for subsistence, and subjection to the authority of employer or master, are the conditions on which alone the laboring masses, white or black, can live with advantage to themselves and to society. "--_De Bow's Review_, _Jan_. 1860, pp. 56, 57. 

Mr. North asked if I did not think that the colored people should beassisted in their efforts to get an education. 

"There are collegiate institutions, " I told him, "for colored people, inOxford, Pa. , and in Xenia, O. With great sorrow have I observed, thatapplications to aid these institutions and to endow others for similarpurposes have been received with coldness and distrust by many who couldhave made liberal contributions, for no other reason than the suspicionthat they were designed by Abolitionists to thrust forward the coloredman in an offensive manner. I have known the name of a leadingAbolitionist to be the death of a subscription-paper for such aninstitution. This was a bitter prejudice. When philanthropy with regardto the colored race among us falls into its natural channel, we shallsee the South and the North opening wide the doors of usefulness inevery department for which the colored people shall, any of them, manifest an aptitude. The idea that this race is to be debarred from anyand every development of which it is capable, is not entertained by anyrespectable people at the South. The negro at the South is not doomed, by the Christian people, to an inexorable fate. They will help him riseas fast and as far as God, in his providence, shows it to be his will toemploy any or all of that race in other ways than those of servitude. 

"'If American slavery, ' says one, 'be the horrid system of cruelty, ignorance, and wickedness represented by some writers of fiction andpaid defamers of our institutions, how happens it that those who havebeen reared in the midst of it, when freed and planted in Africa atonce exhibit such capacity for self-government and self-education, andset such examples of good morals?

"'Have the negroes under British care at Sierra Leone made similarprogress in improvement? Do the free colored subjects of Britain in theWest Indies show the capacity, industry, and intelligence manifested bythe Liberians, whose training was in the school of American servitude?Nor have the best specimens of this tutelage been sent out. Thousandsand tens of thousands of colored servants in the Southern States arechurch-members, instructed in their duties by faithful Christianteachers, and the children are trained in the fear and love of God. '--Ithen observed, "I have come to this conclusion: if Southern Christians say to us, asthey do, Auction-blocks, separation of families, and similar features ofslavery, in the limited and decreasing extent to which they prevail, areas odious to us as to you;--we tolerate these things as parts of asystem which we all feel to be an evil, and which we are constantlystriving to ameliorate;--I will leave the whole subject in their hands;I will trust them in this as I would in anything and everything; I feelabsolved from all responsibility to God or to them with regard to thematter. "

"Pray tell me, " said Mrs. North, "what is all this discussion about 'theterritories, ' and keeping slavery out of them?"

"I told her that slavery, which fifteen States of the Union maintain asa part of their domestic life, is, by many of the people in the FreeStates, regarded as they regard the plague and death; they prescribecertain degrees of latitude as barriers to it, as though they enactedthus: 'North of 36° 30' whooping-cough is prohibited, measles areforbidden, cholera-morbus is forever interdicted. ' They regardslave-holders as living in a moral pestilence, and seeking to carry itwith them into new districts. 

"But, practically, " I said, "the thing will now regulate itself, andboth sides are contending very much for an abstract right. It is a warof feeling, and no one knows where it will end. If the North would say, 'Free labor, which cannot thrive where slavery exists, requires anamicable division and allotment of the territorial regions; let us agreewhere our respective systems shall prevail, '--there would be nodifficulty. But the effort has been to shut out slavery, as men usesanitary legislation and quarantine to keep out a pestilence. This istreating fifteen States of the Union as polluted and polluting. Hencethey say, We cannot live together as one people, and we will not. "

 * * * * *

"What do you honestly think, " said Mr. North, "is the true cause of ourpresent national calamities?"

"They are owing, " said I, "originally, to the peculiar state of feelingon the part of the North toward the South. This was not in consequenceof injury experienced; for slavery had not inflicted injury upon theNorth; but, right or wrong, Northern disapprobation of slavery, and theways of manifesting it, are the fountain-head of our present nationaltrouble. Let great numbers in one section of such a nation as thisconscientiously disapprove of their brethren in another section, and notonly so, but hold them guilty of an immoral and an inhuman system, anddeal with them in such ways as Conscience, that most merciless ofinquisitors and persecutors, alone employs, and if the indicted sectionbe not exasperated, it will be because the accusation is true, --thattheir system has destroyed their manhood. "

"But my hope and belief, " said he, "are, that all these changes are toresult in the overthrow of slavery. "

"I can only say, " said I, in answer to such a remark, "that he whoexpects relief from our trouble through the eradication of slavery, andurges on secession and division as the means to effect it, is in dangerof having his enthusiasm counted as fanaticism, if not madness. "

"How I wish, " said he, "that we could join and buy up these slaves andset them free. "

"Kind and well meant as this proposal is, " said I, "nothing is reallymore offensive to the South. It implies that her conscience is debauchedby self-interest, and that by offering to remunerate her if she willpart with what we call her ill-gotten booty we shall assist her tobecome virtuous. Such a proposal makes her feel that fanaticism hasassumed the calmness which is its most hopeless symptom. "

"Then, " said he, "is the North to change all its opinions?"

I said, "If this implies the abandonment of moral or religious principlein the least degree, Never. Our only hope lies in our possibly being inthe wrong, and in magnanimously changing our views and feelings, and ourbehavior. This, upon conviction, it will be most noble to do for its ownsake, leaving the effect of it to Him by whom actions are weighed, andto those who, we shall have concluded, are naturally as magnanimous andjust as we, and who, if guilty of oppression, were liable to the verysame accusation when we first confederated with them, and when Northernslave-importers put their hands with Southern slave-holders to theDeclaration of Independence, both averring that all men are created freeand equal. 

"We seem now to have concluded that we have put ourselves entirelyright, and that our Southern brethren are entirely wrong. "

"I cannot feel, " said Mr. North, "that we are to blame for having ouropinions, and for expressing them honestly and fearlessly. What morehave we done?"

I replied, "They say that we have held them up to universal execration;that we have quoted, with readiness, the testimony of foreign nationsagainst them, --of nations who know nothing of domestic slavery likeours, mixed up with the qualifying influences of our own civilization;that our imaginative literature has made them odious, associatingcruelty and vulgarity with the relation of slave-holding; that we havelabored to cripple their Institution, hoping to destroy it; that we havestriven to save the District of Columbia from their system as fromcorruption; that a thousand millions of dollars of their property wehave treated as contraband, and have made it perilous for them torecover it; that we have lain in wait and molested them in their transitthrough our borders, with their servants, to embark for sea. We disputetheir right to go with their servants into territories jointly acquired, and belonging by constitutional right equally to them as to ourselves. This, they say, has not been a just and sincere demand for an equitabledivision of territory in view of the naturally conflicting interests ofslave labor and free, but rather a vindictive determination to hem inthe slave-holder, to force the scorpion into fires where he shall die ofhis own sting, or, --to borrow the metaphor, with the language, of apresent Senator from Massachusetts, --where the 'poisoned rat shall diein his own hole. '

"Two confederacies or one, our prospect is fearful if we continue tofeel and act toward each other after this temper, and to cherish ourrespective grievances. "

"There is another side to all this, " said Mr. North. "I ascribe theexcitement at the South to the loss on their part of political power, orto a grasping spirit which breaks compromises, and which requires thatthe national legislation be always shaped in its favor. "

"But, " said I, "if we can trust the convictions of just men, in privatelife, at the South, --men removed from all suspicion as to the purity oftheir motives, --it is certain that our Northern feelings towardslave-holders, and the expressions of those feelings in ways which havebeen applauded among us for many years, are the real causes of theirritation and exasperation which have brought us to the present brink. 

"Now, as these two sections must continue to exist, side by side, theywill go on to repel each other until either slavery ceases, or a changeof feeling takes place in the non-slaveholding section. Secession andpermanent division will not cure the trouble, but will increase it. Moreover, the contrariety of feeling between people in thenon-slaveholding States, made intense by the departure of the Southernsection, may inaugurate hostilities among ourselves more fearful thanthose which drive away the Southern people. 

"Perhaps we are to be two nations. I cannot but regard this as thegreatest calamity which will have happened to the cause of humanimprovement. Nor do I see how it will help Northern philanthropy, northe negro; but it may be greatly for his injury. The truth is, we mustlive together for self-defence against each other, if from no otherconsideration. Israel began its downfall in secession, which wascompelled by Rehoboam. 

"But, " said I, "let us contemplate a different issue. Let us think whata result it will be if such a government as ours, whose speedy ruin hasbeen so often predicted and is still confidently looked for, shall passthrough these trials and dangers without bloodshed, and we become againa united people. Self-government will then have vindicated itself;constitutional liberty will have triumphed; arms and coercion will losetheir old authority and power; for there will be an example of arepublican people recovering from convulsions which would havedemolished any throne or power which trusted in the sword. Theserf-boats in ports of the Bay of Bengal, which ride the swift, enormoussurges, are not nailed, but their parts are lashed one to another, andthus the boats yield easily to the force of the water. Our governmenthas been likened to them; and now, by yielding, one part to another, where a theoretically stronger government would have used coercion, weshall, if it please God, pass safely through these fearful hazards, furnishing a demonstration, which God may have been preparing by us forthe instruction of mankind, that fraternal blood is not the bestnourishment of the tree of liberty, and that 'wisdom, ' resulting in thevictories of peace, 'is better than weapons of war. '

"I look, therefore, toward some change in Northern feelings with regardto the South. A change in this respect will end our troubles. Opinionsmay not be wholly reversed; people born and bred under totally differentinstitutions may not, for they cannot wholly, yield their convictions oncontroverted sectional topics, even when they cherish mutual respect anddeference; but, the belief that the North will change its feelingstoward the South and its institutions, under a modification of viewsentirely consistent with independence of judgment and self-respect, andthat the South will not be wanting in a corresponding temper, rests onthe same conviction as that God does not intend to destroy us by eachother's hands, nor to make the life of the two sections weary withperpetual hatred and strife. "

 * * * * *

"Our form of government, Mr. North, " said I, "is the very best on earthif it goes well, and the worst if it goes ill. We have no standing armyto fight for an administration as for a throne or dynasty; so that if aState secedes, the question is how to coerce that people, if it be bestto attempt it. Citizens do not like to march against their brethren. Think of our taking up arms against our correspondents; against peoplethat have gone from our churches and settled in that State; againstcousins, and brothers-in-law, and people who lived or did business underthe same roofs with us. "

"It is awkward, indeed, " said Mr. North, "especially if they simplywithdraw and hold the fortifications of the general government, in theirown territory, to keep the government from destroying their lives. "

"Why, yes, " said Mrs. North, "it would be simple in them, afterseceding, to suffer themselves to be bombarded. But have they any rightto secede?"

"As to that, " said Mr. North, "my mind has been much exercised of latewith this thought: I have always advocated the right of the negroes tomake insurrection, or to flee from oppression. But now their masterscomplain of being oppressed by the North. Why have not the masters thesame right to secede from their government as the negro from his?"

"Well, husband, " said his wife, "I think that you are getting on fast. "

"Why, " said I, "Mr. North, is not slavery 'the sum of all villanies?'Did the negro ever consent to his form of government?"

"Well, " said he, "I never consented to be born; I find myself inexistence; I have no more consented to the government of the UnitedStates than I suppose the negroes, generally, have submitted to theircivil condition. My question is, Who shall decide when the Southernmasters say, We are intolerably oppressed; we are under a yoke; 'breakevery yoke!' 'let the oppressed go free!' If I interpose and say, 'Youare not oppressed; you are better off as you now are, ' is not this thereply of the masters when we seek to free their slaves? Do we not saythat the oppressed must be the judges of their necessity? And why may Icoerce the master, if it be wrong for him to coerce the negro?"

"I must let you, work out that question at your leisure, and on your ownprinciples, " said I. --"We were speaking of seizing and holding the fortsand arsenals. The French proverb says, 'It is the first step thatcosts. ' Seceding involves the necessity of seizing the forts. If theywho do this embarrass other persons in their lawful rights, they mustrisk the consequences; but if they secede from the government, thequestion is, Do circumstances justify a revolution? for secession isrevolution. Is revolution justifiable in the present case?

"But not to discuss that question, " said I, "all that I wished to saywas this, that our government seems admirably suited for a people whowill behave well under it. We can take care of isolated cases ofrebellion. But if any important part of the country rises up anddeparts, it is exceedingly difficult to know what to do. Prevention isexcellent; but cure is next to impossible. So long as there is a generalacquiescence in the exercise of executive power againstinsurrectionists, one or more, we have a general government; but whenStates depart, we are a house divided against itself. We find that wehave been living, as it were, not so much under paternal authority, asunder fraternal rule. If broken irretrievably, the alternative is to bedivided, or for one part of the country to coerce its neighbors andbrethren. This we find to be extremely inconvenient and reallyimpracticable without civil war; and after the war, --whose horrors, inour case, can never be pictured, --we would either find ourselves in thesame divided state as before, or if politically united, it will havebeen effected at a cost which it is fearful to contemplate. 

"So that we are illustrating the question, whether such a government asours is really practicable, --whether a people can govern themselves. Already we hear it said, 'We have no government. ' The explanation is, Weare not disposed to destroy each other's lives to preserve theconfederation. We can have a monarchy, with its 'divine right, ' and withits standing army, if we choose; or, if we remain as a republic, we mustbe liable to just our present exigency. Our only defence, then, consists in mutual conciliation and agreement. 

"What a land this is, " said I, "with its diversified interests and itsunparalleled variety of products, --its agriculture, mechanic arts, science, and literature. Separation will embarrass every form ofintercourse, and make us hostile. "

"Jews and Samaritans, " said Mrs. North. "And all for an idea!"

"Yes, " said I, "and for an idea which to one whole section, and to avery large part of the people in the other section, is false. --Fourmillions of negroes are destroying us. As a foreign writer said, 'Intrying to give liberty to the negro, we are losing our own. '"

Said Mrs. North, "Can nothing be done to save us?"

"Bishop Butler tells us, Mrs. North, " said I, "that a nation may beinsane as well as an individual. But reason seems to be returning insome quarters. Secession and its consequences are having a wonderfuleffect to open the eyes of people. John Brown's foray and its end were aprovidential demonstration of certain errors, which we may conclude willnot soon be revived. Secession is now leading the world to look morenarrowly into the subject of negro slavery. Let me read to you theseextracts from a recent number of 'Le Pays, ' Paris. The writer is arguingthat Europe must recognize the Southern confederacy:

 'But in awaiting these results which would flow from the cordial welcome given by Europe to the new confederation, let true philanthropists be assured that they are wonderfully mistaken in regard to the real condition of the blacks of the South. We willingly admit that their error is pardonable, for they have learned the relations of master and slave only from "Uncle Tom's Cabin. " Shall we look for that condition in the lucubrations of that romance, raised to the importance of a philosophic dissertation, but leading public opinion astray, provoking revolution, and necessitating incendiarism and revolution? A romance is a work of fancy, which one cannot refute, and which cannot serve as a basis to any argument. In our discussion, we must seek elsewhere for authorities and material. Facts are eloquent, and statistics teach us that, under the superintendence of those masters, --so cruel and so terrible, if we are to believe "Uncle Tom, "--the black population of the South increases regularly in a greater proportion than the white; while in the Antilles, in Africa, and especially in the so very philanthropic States of the North, the black race decreases in a deplorable proportion. 

 'The condition of those blacks is assuredly better than that of the agricultural laborers in many parts of Europe. Their morality is far superior to that of the free negroes of the North; the planters encourage marriage, and thus endeavor to develop among them a sense of the family relation, with a view of attaching them to the domestic hearth, consequently to the family of the master. It will be then observed that in such a state of things the interests of the planter, in default of any other motive, promotes the advancement and well-being of the slave. Certainly, we believe it possible still to ameliorate their condition. It is with that view, even, that the South has labored for so long a time to prepare them for a higher civilization. 

 'In no part, perhaps, of the continent, regard being had to the population, do there exist men more eminent and gifted, with nobler or more generous sentiments, than in the Southern States. No country possesses lovelier, kinder hearted, and more distinguished women. To commence with the immortal Washington, the list of statesmen who have taken part in the government of the United States shows that all those who have shed a lustre on the country, and won the admiration of Europe, owed their being to that much abused South. 

 'Is it true that so much distinction, talent, and grandeur of soul could have sprung from all the vices, from the cruelty and corruption which one would fain attribute now to the Southern people? The laws of inflexible logic refute these false imputations. And--strange coincidence--while Southern men presided over the destinies of the Union, its gigantic prosperity was the astonishment of the world. In the hands of Northern men, that edifice, raised with so much care and labor by their predecessors, comes crashing down, threatening to carry with it in its fall the industrial future of every other nation. For long years the constant efforts of the North, and a certain foreign country, to spread among the blacks incendiary pamphlets and tracts have powerfully contributed to suspend every Southern movement towards emancipation. Its people have been compelled to close their ears to ideas which threatened their very existence. '"

"But, " said Mr. North, "here we have been, for thirty years or more, living on an anti-slavery excitement. Grant that it is all wrong; willyou ask or expect that we shall change all at once? in a week? or in amonth? or in a year? We will not kneel to anybody; if we change, it mustbe upon conviction. "

"I strike hands with you there, " said I, "most heartily. Our Southernfriends must understand this; they must now approach us once more withreason and persuasion. The people at large are in a frame to be reasonedwith and persuaded; for if we can do anything within the bounds ofreason to retain the South in the Union, it will be done. We will say ofconcession as the antithesis of secession, as was said of two otherthings: 'Millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute. ' I think thatboth sections need forgiveness of God, and of each other. "

"Well, " said Mr. North, "after all we shall get along and get through, even if there should be a separation. "

"Mr. Worth, " said I, "when you were studying Cicero, could youunderstand--for I could not--how he and other patriots could feel sostrongly about the fortunes of their country as to declare--which theyfrequently do--that they would rather die than survive their country'shonor? It has come to me vividly of late. I see it and feel it. Thesunshine will seem to have gone out of our life when we become twounfriendly nations. 

"It is easy, " said I, "for it gratifies some of the lower passions, toridicule a whole section of the country for their act of secession or adisposition towards it; to boast that the South cannot do without us; toprophesy that they will get sick of it, and wish to return; to expresswonder that they should feel so much hurt; to remind them that, if theywill do as we have always counselled them, there would be no trouble;and there is a temptation to say, as friends in a quarrel will hastilysay, Let them go. But when they are irrecoverably gone, justifiably ornot, I tell you, Mr. North, there will be mourning in our streets. Iknow, indeed, that there are some among us to whom it will be acarnival; but--"

"They will have a long Lent after it, " said Mrs. North; "pray excuseme. "

"Ties of kindred, " said I, "patriotism, Christian friendships, will notgo down to hopeless graves without leaving behind them sorrows endingonly with life. 

"It appears to me, " said I, "that our ship is where nothing but animmediate calm and then a change of the wind, can save us. If we becometwo nations, it may be for judgment and destruction; and it may be forsome great, ultimate good. But it will be hard parting. To think ofhaving no South! and of their having no North! We shall each becomeprovincial. We are wonderfully fitted to qualify and improve each theother. How strange it would be to have these two sections love eachother! No one among us under twenty-five years of age, has probably everthought of us but as in controversy. "

"Speaking of Southern life, " said Mrs. North, "I have not seen ourfriend Grant since he came back from the South. "

"I have seen him, " said I, "and have heard his story. He made his homewith an old friend, a clergyman. It was known that he was a stranger, and at once he was made to feel at home by many of the citizens. Themorning after he arrived, Jack, a servant of a neighboring family, cameinto the breakfast-room, with a waiter filled with dishes, which hedeposited on the side-board. 'Master and Missis send their compliments, and want to know how the family is, and how Mr. Grant is this morning. 'Now they had never seen Mr. Grant; but they knew that he had arrived thenight before. 'Well, Jack, ' says Mrs. ----, 'I see you have got somegood things for us. ' 'O, not much, Missis; but they thought you and Mr. Grant would excuse 'em for sending it. ' So there were deposited on thebreakfast-table, 'big hominy' in one or two shapes, rare fish, puff-muffins, and several dishes which called for Jack'sinterpretations. 'And Master says, shall he send the carriage round foryou this forenoon? and he will call himself. ' The evening talk wasinterrupted by a black woman, all smiles, bearing a waiter of ice-creamand other refreshments, from another house; and so the visit was asuccession of surprises from families who, at the South, count eachother's guests their own. Mr. Grant was a strong anti-secessionist, andhe spent much breath in arguing with the people in private. On hisreturn to his room, one day, he found a glass dish on the table, filledwith japonicas, camellias, roses, and other early flowers, with the cardof a married lady, --with whom he had had a debate, --inscribed, 'From thehottest of the Secessionists. ' He seems modified in his views a littleabout 'the sum of all villanies, ' since his return. "

"Yes, " said Mrs. North, "and the people here explain it by saying, 'O, he was fêted, and flattered. '

"Yes, " she continued, "some of our people will sacrifice theirconfidence in man or angel, rather than believe anything good aboutslavery. "

I said to her, "Add the Bible to those witnesses, Mrs. North. "

"Husband, " said she, "please reach me that long, thin, brown-coveredbook on the what-not. " She then read an extract from the sixty-thirdpage; it was a book by one now deceased, called, "Experience as aMinister":

"I had not been long a minister, before I found this worship of theBible as a fetish hindering me at every step. If I declared theConstancy of Nature's Laws, and sought therein great argument for theConstancy of God, all the miracles came and held their mythologic fingerup. Even Slavery was 'of God, ' for the divine statutes in the OldTestament admitted the principle that man might own a man, as well as agarden or an ox, and provided for the measure. Moses and the Prophetswere on its side; and neither Paul of Tarsus, nor Jesus of Nazareth, uttered a direct word against it. "

 * * * * *

"But here is the sun!" said I. 

"We are all more cheerful, " said Mrs. North, "than we were when he leftus; for we have been able to converse on a trying and perplexingsubject with good feelings. "

"Now, " said I, "here is the Southern lady's letter, which has givenoccasion to all our conversation. "

"It has also introduced us, " said Mr. North, "to that goose, Gustavus, and to his good aunt. "

"What shall I say to the Southern lady, " said I, "if I write to herfather?"

"Tell her, " said Mrs. North, "that if she comes to the North she mustcome directly to our house and make it her home. If you will allow me, Iwill put a note into your envelope to that effect. I shall beg her tobring Kate with her. Wouldn't I love to see Kate!"

"My dear, " said Mr. North, "do you know what a time there would be ifthe lady should bring Kate with her?"

"The good time coming! I think it would be, " said his wife, "to see theSouthern lady and her Kate under our roof. "

"Why, " Paid he, "we should all have to go to court?"

"Well, that would be interesting, " said she; "but for what?"

"Why, " said he, "you know that this is free soil: Kate is a slave; shecan have her freedom for nothing if she comes here. Some of ourMassachusetts gentlemen are as chivalrous and attentive to Southerncolored people, as our good friend tells us Southern gentlemen are to awhite woman: a committee would wait on Kate, with an officer of thepeace, and invite her to visit the court-house with them, to bepresented with 'freedom'; and Kate's mistress must go with her, to showthat she is not restraining Kate of her liberty. "

"Why, " said Mrs. North, "if I could not be allowed, in visiting SharonSprings, to take Judith with me to give me my baths, because she isfree, I should call it barbarism. Who was that gentleman that broke hiscollar-bone and seat to you, husband, to get him a nurse?"

Mr. North said it was a student in a medical school, from the South. 

"Did you find him a nurse?" said she. 

"Yes, " he replied; "but he groaned and said, 'Mother wanted to send onmy mammy that nursed me, but your laws will not allow her to come. Now, 'said he, 'mammy will not tamper with your servants here, and entice themaway, as free colored men might do to our slaves if they landed at theSouth from your vessels. O, mammy, ' said he, 'if I had your 'arbs andyour nursing, what a pleasure it would be to be sick. '"

"Poor fellow!" said Mrs. North. "What did you say to him?"

"O, " said he, "I told him that we lived under different institutions;and that when we are among the Romans we must do as the Romans do. "

"Well, " said Mrs. North, "if all such prohibitions are not downrightimpertinence, then I will give up. "

"It's the law of the land, here, " said her husband. 

"Is there no 'Higher Law' in such a case?" said she. "'Higher Law, ' Ibelieve, is sometimes the rule in Massachusetts. "

"Some of our most estimable colored fellow-citizens would attend her, "said I, "and tempt her by their own prosperity and happiness in freedom, at the North, to cast in her lot with them and abandon her Southernhome, her mistress, and her little charge, Susan; and her own littleCygnet's grave. They would send her, if she wished, free of charge, toCanada, and leave her there. She could be perfectly free. "

"Now, what is all this for?" said Mrs. North. "Do the people here reallybelieve that Kate is 'oppressed?' that her mistress is a tyrant? thatKate is a victim to the 'sum of all villanies?' that she buffers an'enormous wrong?' that her mistress does her a 'stupendous injustice?'If they wish for objects of charity, and will go with me, I will engageto supply them with 'the oppressed' in any quantity, with some of 'thedown-trodden' also. "

"But, my dear Mrs. North, " said I, "''tis distance lends enchantment tothe view. ' Besides, to get a slave away from a Southerner is worthunspeakably more to the cause of human happiness than to help scores ofNorthern people. "

"But to be serious, " said Mr. North, "we are afraid that slave-holdingmay get a foothold in Massachusetts; so we have to challenge every onewho comes here with a slave, to show proof that he or she is not holdingthe servant to involuntary servitude among us. "

"But, " said Mrs. North, "are the people so conscientiously fearful lestbondage should get established here in Massachusetts? Is that the truereason for hurrying every colored servant, who travels here with his orher invalid master or mistress, before a court to know if he or shewould not prefer to quit the family and the South? It seems to me we aresadly wanting in good manners. "

"Now, please do not smile at your good wife for her simplicity, Mr. North, " said I, "for I suppose that you are thinking, What have 'goodmanners' to do with the 'cause of freedom'? She is right in herimpressions; a lady's sense of propriety against all the world. "

"Do publish the Southern lady's letter by all means, " said Mrs. North. 

"How surprised she would be, " said I, "to see it in print, or to knowthat it had wandered here, and was taking part in the discussions aboutslavery. "

"The letter, " said Mrs. North, "would, just now, seem like Noah's poorlittle dove, wandering over wrecks and desolations. "

"True, " said I, "and to finish the illusion, it might come back to herafter many days, and lo! in its mouth an olive-leaf plucked off!"

"Give my love to her, " said Mrs. North; "her letter has made me a betterand happier woman. Now I love my whole country. I do justice in myfeelings to hundreds of thousands whom I have hitherto regarded asperverse. I now see God's wonder-working providence in connection withthe slave. It seems plain to me in what way the Union can be saved, andthat is, by the general prevalence at the North of such views aboutslavery as the very best people at the South declare to be just andright. "

"You would be deemed simple for saying that, Mrs. North, " said I. "Butyou are right. "

"Three things, " she continued, after a moment's pause, "are morestrongly impressed on my mind; please see if I am right:--That therelation of master and slave is not in itself sinful; That good peopleat the South feel toward injustice and cruelty precisely like us; and, That Southern Christians can correct all the evils in slavery, orabolish it, if necessary, better without our aid than with it. "

"Mrs. North, " said I, "unless we accept those propositions, the Northand South never can live together in peace; and if we separate, theNorthern conscience will be in a worse condition than ever, and we shallhave long wars. "

"It is a marvellous thing to me, " said she, "as I now view it, that ourgood Christian people here are not willing to confide in that which goodSouthern Christian people say about slavery. We should trust theirjudgments, their moral sentiments, their consciences, on any othersubject. How is it that when men and women, who are the excellent of theearth, tell us the results of their observation, experience, andreflections, with regard to slavery, we treat them as we do? Whenill-mannered people, who must be vituperative and saucy to every bodyand in every thing, behave thus, it is not surprising; but I cannotexplain why truly good men should not either adopt the deliberatesentiments of good people at the South, or at least consent to leave thesubject, if beyond their faith or discernment, to the responsibility ofSouthern Christians. I condemn myself in saying this. But having myselfbeen converted, I have hope for everybody. "

During this talk, Mr. North was affected somewhat as he said his wifewas when he first read the Southern lady's letter to her. He was alittle incoherent by reason of his emotions; but he made out to saysomething about the sweetness and the strength of reconciled affections, and of the happiness which there would be when it should be proclaimedthat the North and the South are once more friends. 

"What is your whole name, Mrs. North?" said I; "for I shall wish tospeak of you to the Southern lady, if I write to her father. "

"My Christian name, " said she, "is Patience. "

"PATIENCE NORTH!" I said to myself, once or twice, as I stood at theparlor door. I was musing upon the name perhaps ten or fifteen seconds, and when I looked up, they were each both smiling at me and crying. 

We shook hands, and I went my way. 

THE END.