On Being
Introduced To The Owner Of Them, She, With Cheerful Alacrity, Offered
Me Some Of The Finest.
I do not doubt of there being suffering and
misery in the agricultural population of England, but still there are
multitudes of cottages which are really very pleasant objects, as were
all these.
The cottagers had that bright, rosy look of health which we
seldom see in America, and appeared to be both polite and
self-respecting.
In the evening we had quite a gathering of friends from the
neighborhood - intelligent, sensible, earnest people, who had grown up
in the love of the antislavery cause as into religion. The subject of
conversation was, "The duty of English people to free themselves from
any participation in American slavery, by taking means to encourage
the production of free cotton in the British provinces."
It is no more impossible or improbable that something effective may be
done in this way than that the slave trade should have been abolished.
Every great movement seems an impossibility at first. There is no end
to the number of things declared and proved impossible which have been
done already, so that this may become something yet.
Mrs. Clarkson had retired from the room early; after a while she sent
for me to her sitting room. The faithful attendant of whom I spoke was
with her. She wished to show me some relics of her husband, his watch
and seals, some of his papers and manuscripts; among these was the
identical prize essay with which he began his career, and a commentary
on the Gospels, which he had written with great care, for the use of
his grandson. His seal attracted my attention - it was that kneeling
figure of the negro, with clasped hands, which was at first adopted as
the badge of the cause, when every means was being made use of to
arouse the public mind and keep the subject before the public. Mr.
Wedgwood, the celebrated porcelain manufacturer, designed a cameo,
with this representation, which was much worn as an ornament by
ladies. It was engraved on the seal of the Antislavery Society, and
was used by its members in sealing all their letters. This of
Clarkson's was handsomely engraved on a large, old-fashioned
carnelian; and surely, if we look with emotion on the sword of a
departed hero, - which, at best, we can consider only as a necessary
evil, - we may look with unmingled pleasure on this memorial of a
bloodless victory.
When I retired to my room for the night I could not but feel that the
place was hallowed: unceasing prayer had there been offered for the
enslaved and wronged race of Africa by that noble and brotherly heart.
I could not but feel that those prayers had had a wider reach than the
mere extinction of slavery in one land or country, and that their
benign influence would not cease while a slave was left upon the face
of the earth.
LETTER XXV.
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