Linked as we are with America by the ties of kindred, commerce, language, literature, and political sympathies, upon nothing which affects the destiny and progress of the Union can the English people help looking with the deepest interest. There is not a man of intellect or judgment on either side of the Atlantic who does not acknowledge the fearful importance of the slavery question, even if it be considered in a political point of view only, and laying aside all thoughts of its guilt and immorality. It already threatens to cause the disruption of the great American confederation, upon which we all look with so much hope and pride; and there exists not a doubt, that, sooner or later, all the wrongs it has caused will be atoned for by a terrible social convulsion, if not remedied by the timely and peaceful concession of the rights of the negro race. We can hardly wonder, then, that the whole subject should possess such momentous importance in the eyes of all earnest-thinking, patriotic men and women in America. Assuredly, if in the face of the tremendous difficulties, deeply rooted prejudice, self-interest, and a host of base passions, which beset them in arguing the cause of the slave, they occasionally commit errors of judgment, or make use of means which we, farther removed from the scene of action, may deem inexpedient or ill-timed,—no Englishman should regard their self-denying efforts with any other feeling than one of deep sympathy. Nay, we should look upon their struggle with the greater admiration, when we know that the church in America has abandoned its post, and is unfaithful to its mission; that the clergy, who, of all others, should be the last to recognise any inequality in men as men, have sought to hide the abominations of slave-holding under the cloak of Divine sanction. We all know the vast moral power which England possesses in the United States, and we may readily conjecture how comforting it must be for those who are battling for the rights of a down-trodden race, in the face of a hostile senate, a hostile press, and a hostile aristocracy of slave-holders, to hear a cheer of encouragement from those across the water who feel that the position of the Anglo-Saxon race in the future of the world, depends upon the respect it now shews for the sacred rights, and the inherent nobility of humanity.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Be up and doing | Hon. Wm. H. Seward | [9] |
| Caste and Christ | Mrs. H. E. B. Stowe | [11] |
| Letter from the Earl of Carlisle to Mrs. H. B. Stowe | [13] | |
| Momma Charlotte | Mrs. C. M. Kirkland | [16] |
| A Name | Hon. Horace Mann | [19] |
| Letter from Joseph Sturge | [20] | |
| Slavery and Polygamy | R. Hildreth | [20] |
| The Way | John G. Whittier | [22] |
| The Slave and Slave-Owner | Miss Sedgwick | [23] |
| Letter from the Bishop of Oxford | [25] | |
| Hide the Outcasts | Rev. William Goodell | [25] |
| Can Slaves rightfully resist and fight? | Rev. Geo. W. Perkins | [28] |
| Death in Life | Ebenezer Button | [33] |
| True Reform | Mrs. C. W. H. Dall | [34] |
| How Long? | J. M. Whitfield | [35] |
| Letter from Wilson Armistead | [42] | |
| Impromptu Stanzas | J. M. Eells | [44] |
| John Murray (of Glasgow) | James M’Cune Smith | [46] |
| Power of American Example | Lewis Tappan | [50] |
| The Gospel as a Remedy for Slavery | „ „ | [52] |
| Letter from Rev. C. G. Finney | [54] | |
| The Slave’s Prayer | Miss C. E. Beecher | [55] |
| The Struggle | Hon. Charles Sumner | [56] |
| Work and Wait | Horace Greeley | [56] |
| The Great Emancipation | Gerrit Smith | [58] |
| Ode | Rev. John Pierpont | [58] |
| Passages in the Life of a Slave Woman | Annie Parker | [61] |
| Story Telling | „ „ | [68] |
| The Man-Owner | Rev. E. Buckingham | [70] |
| Damascus in 1851 | Rev. F. W. Holland | [73] |
| Religious, Moral, and Political Duties | Lindley Murray Moore | [80] |
| Why Slavery is in the Constitution | James G. Birney | [81] |
| The Two Altars | Mrs. H. B. Stowe | [88] |
| Outline of a Man | Rev. R. R. Raymond | [103] |
| The Heroic Slave Woman | Rev. S. J. May | [112] |
| Kossuth | John Thomas | [115] |
| The Heroic Slave | Frederick Douglass | [120] |
| A Plea for Free Speech | Prof. J. H. Raymond | [166] |
| Placido | Prof. W. G. Allen | [177] |
| To the Friends of Emancipation | [183] | |
AUTOGRAPHS FOR FREEDOM.
BE UP AND DOING.
Can nothing be done for Freedom? Yes, much can be done. Everything can be done. Slavery can be confined within its present bounds. It can be meliorated. It can be, and it must be abolished. The task is as simple as its performance would be beneficent and as its rewards would be glorious. It requires only that we follow this plain rule of conduct and course of activity, namely, to do, everywhere, and on every occasion what we can, and not to neglect nor refuse to do what we can at any time, because at that precise time and on that particular occasion we cannot do more. Circumstances define possibilities. When we have done our best to shape them and to make them propitious, we may rest satisfied that superior wisdom has, nevertheless, controlled them and us, and that it will be satisfied with us if we do all the good that shall then be found possible.
But we can, and we must begin deeper and lower than the composition and combination of factions. Wherein do the security and strength of slavery consist? You answer, in the constitution of the United States, and in the constitutions and laws of the slave-holding States. Not at all. It is in the erroneous sentiments of the American people. Constitutions and laws can no more rise above the virtue of the people than the limpid stream can climb above its native spring. Inculcate the love of freedom and the sacredness of the rights of man under the paternal roof. See to it, that they are taught in the schools and in the churches. Reform your own codes and expurgate the vestiges of slavery. Reform your own manners and customs and rise above the prejudices of caste. Receive the fugitive who lays his weary limbs at your door, and defend him as you would your household gods, for he, not they, has power to bring down blessings on your hearth. Correct your error that slavery has any constitutional guarantee that may not be released, and that ought not to be relinquished. Say to slavery, when it shows its bond and demands its pound of flesh, that if it draws one drop of blood its life shall pay the forfeit. Inculcate that the free States can exercise the rights of hospitality and humanity, that Congress knows no finality and can debate, that Congress can at least mediate with the slave-holding States, that at least future generations may be bought and given up to freedom. Do all this, and inculcate all this, in the spirit of moderation and benevolence, and not of retaliation and fanaticism, and you will ultimately bring the parties of this country into a common condemnation, and even the slave-holding States themselves into a renunciation of slavery, which is not less necessary for them than for the common security and welfare. Whenever the public mind shall be prepared, and the public conscience shall demand the abolition of slavery, the way to do it will open before us, and then mankind will be surprised at the ease with which the greatest of social and political evils can be removed.
CASTE AND CHRIST.
“He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”