Part 19

A Welcome to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, on her Return from Europe.

She comes, she comes, o'er the bounding wave, Borne swift as an eagle's flight; She comes, the tried friend of the slave,-- Truth's champion for the right.

Not as the blood-stained warrior comes, With shrill-sounding fife and drums; But peaceful by our quiet homes, The conquering heroine comes.

Then welcome to our Pilgrim shore, Tho' sad affliction meet thee; Three million welcomes from God's poor, The south winds bear, to greet thee.

To thee, with chain-linked hearts we come, Which naught but death can sever, To thank thee for thy "Uncle Tom," Thy gentle-hearted "Eva."

When the crushed slave himself shall own, Three million fetters broken, Shall mount before thee, to the Throne; Of thy true life, the token.

Then welcome to our northern hills; Thy own New England dwelling; The birds, the trees, the sparkling rills, All, are thy welcome swelling.

ROCHESTER, N. Y., October 19th, 1853.

FOOTNOTES:

The sickness of her daughter.

Forward.

FROM THE GERMAN OF HOFFMAN, IN FOLLERSLEBEN.

It is a time of swell and flood, We linger on the strand, And all that might to us bring good Lies in the distant land.

O forward! forward! why stand still? The flood will ne'er run dry; Who through the wave not venture will, That land shall never spy.

What has Canada to do with Slavery?

The question is often asked, both in Canada and in the United States: What have we in Canada to do with the Institution of Slavery, as it exists in the neighboring Republic? I do not think that a better answer is necessary, than that which is contained in the following extracts--the former of which is taken from a speech delivered by George Thompson, Esq., at the formation of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada--the latter from the valuable work of the Rev. Albert Barnes on Slavery:

"Are we separated geographically and politically from the country where slavery reigns? We are, for that very reason, the persons best able to form an unbiassed and sound judgment on the question at issue. We have as much to do with this question as with any question that concerns the happiness of man, the glory of God, or the hopes and destinies of the human race. We have to do with this question, for it lies at the foundation of our own rights as a portion of the human family. The cause of liberty is one all over the world. What have you to do with this question? The slave is your brother, and you cannot dissolve that Union. While he remains God's child he will remain your brother. He is helpless, and you are free and powerful; and if you neglect him, you are not doing as you would have others do to you, were you in bonds. Know you not that it is God's method to save man by man, and that man is only great, and honorable, and blest himself, as he is the friend and defender of those who need his aid. You are dwellers on the same continent with three millions of slaves. Their sighs come to you with every breeze from the South. Oh, haste to help them, that this glorious continent may be freed from its pollution and its curse."

Extract from Barnes on slavery:

"Slavery pertains to a great wrong done to our common nature, and affects great questions, relating to the final triumph of the principles of justice and humanity. The race is one great brotherhood, and every man is under obligation, as far as he has the ability, to defend those principles which will permanently promote the welfare of the human family. * * * * The questions of right and wrong know no geographical limits; are bounded by no conventional lines; are circumscribed by the windings of no river or stream, and are not designated by climate or by the course of the sun. There are no enclosures within which the question of right and wrong may not be carried with the utmost freedom."

Other answers might be given, but these are quite sufficient.

The Fugitive Slave Bill: a Fragment.

But ours is the saddest part of this sad business. It would be hard enough to live surrounded by bondmen, even though we had never known any other way of life. Still, for one who had grown up with young slaves for playmates and for nurses, there might be much in the relation to quiet the conscience and soothe the sensibilities. Strong attachments, we all know, are often realized, even in a condition of things so anomalous. Perhaps, too, a large number of those about us would be as feeble in capacity as humble in their circumstances. One so born might tolerate such a position. But how different,--how, in comparison, and in every way intolerable, to be set as watchmen and interceptors of these, the brighter and the better, who, beyond all controversy, have outgrown the estate of bondage, and who are so loudly called of God to be freemen, that they will brave any peril in obedience to the call! How can we do this and still be men and Christians? Would our brethren at the south do it for us? If we have, in our haste, so covenanted, must we not rather pay the penalty than fulfil the bond? I recognize obedience to civil government as the solemn duty of all save those who without cause are made outlaws by the State. Government protects our hearths and shelters those who are dearest to us. But we can honor the law by submitting to its penalties as well as by complying with its demands, and the penalty would be my election when a man who had seized his manhood at the peril of his life should claim of me shelter and the means of escape. Before I refuse that, "may my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

The Encroachment of the Slave-Power.

EXTRACT.

Such is the unholy and gigantic power that, leaving its territorial domain, has usurped the seat of freedom--that has established at our capitol a central despotism, and bends to its will with iron hand the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of our Federal Government.

I have marvelled, sir, as you have, that the Spirit of Freedom in our fair land has so long slumbered beneath such an outrage. But I imagine her awakening. As she is about to awaken in her strength, and with the voice of the people, like the sound of many waters, rebuking this insolent slave-power, as Milton tells us its father and inventor was of old rebuked, as he sought to pass the bounds of his prison-house, and to darken with his presence the realms of light--

"And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of Heaven, Hell-doom'd! and breath'st defiance here and scorn, Where I reign King, and to enrage thee more Thy King and Lord? Back to thy punishment False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings, Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart, Strange horrors seize thee and pangs unfelt before."

Faithfully yours,