1853.
PREFACE
TO THE
American Edition.
There is, perhaps, little need of detaining the kind reader, even for one moment, in this the vestibule of our Temple of Liberty, to state the motives and reasons for the publication of this collection of Anti-slavery testimonies.
The good cause to which the volume is devoted;—the influence which must ever be exerted by persons of exalted character, and high mental endowments;—the fact that society is slow to accept any cause that has not the baptism of the acknowledged noble and good;—the happiness arising from making any exertion to ameliorate the condition of the injured race amongst us, will at once suggest reasons and motives for sending forth this offering, which, while it shall prove acceptable as a Gift Book, may help to swell the tide of that sentiment that, by the Divine blessing, will sweep away from this otherwise happy land the great sin of SLAVERY.
Should this publication be instrumental in casting one ray of hope on the heart of one poor slave, or should it draw the attention of one person, hitherto uninterested, to the deep wrongs of the bondman, or cause one sincere and earnest effort to promote emancipation, we believe that the kind contributors, who have generously responded to our call, not less than the members of our Society, will feel themselves gratified and compensated.
The proceeds of the sale of the “Autographs for Freedom” will be devoted to the dissemination of light and truth on the subject of slavery throughout the country.
On behalf of “The Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society,”
JULIA GRIFFITHS, Secretary.
Preface to the English Edition.
Few better evidences of the deep interest which most of the leading minds in America take in the question of slavery can be afforded than are contained in this book. The ablest men and women of the country have here set their hands to a solemn protest against its enormities. Mrs. Stowe, who has achieved a reputation as widely extended as it is well earned,—who has, both in this country and in the United States, aroused thousands to a sense of the guilt and wrong of slavery who never spent a thought upon it before,—has her name side by side with that of Horace Mann, one of the most brilliant orators in the Union. Whittier, whose sweet strains have delighted thousands wherever the English language is spoken, finds himself in company with Frederick Douglass, who has experienced all those horrors whose bare recital has made us shudder; and with the Earl of Carlisle, who is setting an example full of promise to the men of his order; and with the son of the immortal Wilberforce. Widely differing as these do upon the majority of public questions, there is not a shade of difference in their opinions as to the iniquity of slavery.