A reply to "The affectionate and Christian address of many thousands of women of Great Britain and Ireland, to their sisters, the women of the United States of America." — John Shaqi
A reply to "The affectionate and Christian address of many thousands of women of Great Britain and Ireland, to their sisters, the women of the United States of America."Stowe, Harriet Beecher
History
A reply to "The affectionate and Christian address of many thousands of women of Great Britain and Ireland, to their sisters, the women of the United States of America."
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Slavery -- United States; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Foreign public opinion
When these words reached us, we said, “We can wait; our friends in
England will soon see whither this conflict is tending.” A year and
a half have passed; step after step has been taken for Liberty;
chain after chain has fallen, till the march of our armies is choked
and clogged by the glad flocking of emancipated slaves; the day
of final emancipation is set; the Border States begin to move in
voluntary consent; universal freedom for all dawns like the sun in
the distant horizon: and still no voice from England. No voice? Yes,
we have heard on the high seas the voice of a war-steamer, built for
a man-stealing Confederacy with English gold in an English dockyard,
going out of an English harbour, manned by English sailors, with
the full knowledge of English Government-officers, in defiance of
the Queen’s proclamation of neutrality. So far has English sympathy
overflowed. We have heard of other steamers, iron-clad, designed
to furnish to a Slavery-defending Confederacy their only lack,—a
navy for the high seas. We have heard that the British Evangelical
Alliance refuses to express sympathy with the liberating party, when
requested to do so by the French Evangelical Alliance. We find in
English religious newspapers all those sad degrees in the downward
sliding-scale of defending and apologizing for slaveholders and
slaveholding with which we have so many years contended in our own
country. We find the President’s Proclamation of Emancipation spoken
of in those papers only as an incitement to servile insurrection.
Nay, more,—we find in your papers, from thoughtful men, the admission
of the rapid decline of anti-slavery sentiments in England. Witness
the following:—
“The Rev. Mr. Maurice, Principal of the Working-Men’s College, Great
Ormond Street, delivered the first general lecture of the term on
Saturday evening, and took for his subject the state of English
feeling on the Slavery question. He said, ‘a few days ago, in a
conversation on the American war, that some gentlemen connected with
the College had confessed to a change in their sympathies in the
matter. On the outbreak of the war, they had been strong sympathizers
with the Government and the Northern States, but gradually they had
drifted until they found themselves desiring the success of the
seceded States, and all but free from their anti-slavery feelings
and tendencies.’ These confessions elicited strong expressions of
indignation from a gentleman present, who had lectured in the College
on the war in Kansas. He (Mr. Maurice) felt inclined to share in the
indignation expressed; but since, he could not help feeling that this
change was very general in England.”
Alas, then, England! is it so? In this day of great deeds and great
heroisms, this solemn hour when the Mighty Redeemer is coming to
break every yoke, do we hear such voices from England?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account