Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1Stowe, Harriet Beecher
History
Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Europe -- Description and travel
"The glittering steel of the warrior, though steeped in the tyrant's
blood, would be weak when compared with a woman's pen dipped in the milk
of human kindness, and softened by the balm of Christian love. The words
that have drawn a tear from the eye of the noble, and moistened the
dusky cheek of the hardest sons of toil, shall sink into the heart and
weaken the grasp of the slaveholder, and crimson with a blush of shame
many an American citizen who has hitherto defended or countenanced by
his silence this bitter reproach on the character and constitution of
his country.
"To the tender mercies of Him who died to save their immortal souls we
commend the downcast slaves for freedom and protection, and, in the
heart-cheering belief that you have been raised up as an honored
instrument in God's hand to hasten the glorious work of their
emancipation, we crave that his blessing, as well as the blessing of him
that is ready to perish, may abundantly rest upon you and yours. With
sentiments of the highest esteem and respect, dear madam, we
affectionately subscribe ourselves your friends and fellow-laborers."
PROFESSOR STOWE was received with prolonged cheering. He said, "Besides
the right which I have, owing to the relationship subsisting between us,
to answer for the lady whom you have so honored, I may claim a still
greater right in my sympathy for her efforts. [Hear!] We are perfectly
agreed in every point with regard to the nature of slavery, and the best
means of getting rid of it. I have been frequently called on to address
public meetings since I have been on these shores, and though under
circumstances of great disadvantage, and generally with little time, if
any, for preparation, still the very great kindness which has been
manifested to Mrs. Stowe and to myself, and to our country, afflicted as
it is with this great evil, has enabled me to bear a burden which
otherwise I should have found insupportable. But of all the addresses we
have received, kind and considerate as they have all been, I doubt
whether one has so completely expressed the feelings and sympathies of
our own hearts as the one we have just heard. It is precisely the
expressions of our own thoughts and feelings on the whole subject of
slavery. As this is probably the last time I shall have an opportunity
of addressing an audience in England, I wish briefly to give you an
outline of our views as to the best means of dealing with that terrible
subject of slavery, for in our country it is really terrible in its
power and influence. Were it not that Providence seems to be lifting a
light in the distance, I should be almost in despair. There is now a
system of causes at work which Providence designs should continue to
work, until that great curse is removed from the face of the earth. I
believe that in dealing with the subject of slavery, and the best means
of removing it, the first thing is to show the utter wrongfulness of the
whole system.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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