UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
that
and
that
122 KEY TO UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.
but failed. She had the promise of money
sufficientto purchase her daughter,
'
Suppose,now, for a moment, that your daughter,
whom
but the
you love,instead of mine,was in these
hot days
owner would listento no terms of incarcerated in compromise.
a negro-pm, subjectto
i'my control,fed on the coarsest food,committed
to the entire will of a brute,denied the privilege
In her distress, the mother repaired to a i commonly allowed even to the murderer "
of
lawyerin the city, and begged him to seeingthe face of his friends? 0!
give
then, you
would feel! Feel
form to her petition in soon, then, for a
writing.Sh*estated
poor slavemother
and her child,and do for us as
you shall
to him what she wished to have said,and he wish
you had done when we shall meet before
arrangedit for her in such a form as she the Great Judge when it shall be
, your greatest
herself might have presented it in,had not joy to say, " I did let the oppressedfree."
Ellen Brown.
the benefitsof education been denied her.
The followingis the letter :
The girl,however,was sent oft'to the
Southern market.
Washington,July25, 1851.
The writer has received these incidents
Mr.
from the
Sir : I address you as a rich Christian freeman
gentleman who wrote the letter.
and father,while I am myselfbut a poor slavemother
! I come to plead with you for an onlychild was strictly legalis a point upon which we
Whether the course pursuedby the master
whom [ love,who is" a professor
the Christian
are not
religionwith yourself,and a member of a
entirely certain
Christian
; that it was a course
church ; and who, by your act of in which the law did not in fact interfere is
ownership,
now pines in her imprisonmentin a loathsome quiteplain,and it isalso very apparent that
man-warehouse, where she is held for sale ! I it was a course against which publicsentiment
conn.' to plead with you for the exercise of that did not remonstrate. The man who
blessed law, " Whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do exercised this
ye even so to them."
power
was a professedly religious
With greatlabor, I have found friends who are
man, enjoying a position of* importance
willing to aid me in the purchase of my child, to in a Christianchurch ; and it does not appear,
save us from a cruel separation.You, as afathrr. from any movements in the Christian
can judge of my feelingswhen I was told that
you had decreed her banishment to distant as well
community about him, that theydid not
as to hopeless bondage !
consider his course a justifiable one.
For nearly sis years my child has done for you Yet is not this kind of power the very
the hard labor of a slave; from the age
of sixteen
to twenty-two șhe liasdone the hard work of one at which we are so shocked when we see
your it exercised
chamber, kitchen, cellar, and stables.
by foreigndespotsl
By night
and by day,your will and your commands
"
have
Do we not read with shudderingthat in
been her highestlaw; and all this has been unrequited
Russia,or in Austria,a man accused of
toil, If in all this time her scanty allowance
crime is seized upon, separatedfrom his
of tea and coflVe has been sweetened,it has
been at the cost of her
friends, allowed no
slave-mother,
opportunities of trial or
and not at
of self-defence,but hurried offto Siberia, or
yours.
You are an office-bearer in the church, and a some other dreaded exile l
man of prayer. As such, and as the absolute
Why is despotism any
worse in the governor
owner of my child, I ask candidlywhether she
of a
has enjoyed such mild and state than in a private individual ?
gentletreatment, and
There is
amiable example, as she ought to have had, a
to
great controversy now going
encourage her in her monotonous bondage' Has on in the world between the despotic and
she received at your hands, in faithful religiousthe republican principleẠll the common
instruction in the Word of God, a full and fair
arguments
compensation
used in support of slavery
for all her toil? It is not to me alone
are
that you must answer these questions Ỵou acknowledge
arguments that apply with equalstrength
the high authority of His laws who to despotic government, and there are some
preached a deliverance to the captive,and who
arguments in favor of despotic governments
commands you to "
giveto vour servant that which
that do
is justand equal." Oil entreat you, withhold
not apply to individual slavery.
There are
not, at this tryinghour, from my child that which
arguments, and quiteplausible
will cut off her last hope, and which may endangerones,
in favor of despotic government. Nobody
own
your
soul !
can deny that it possesses a certain
It has been said that you charge my daughter kind of efficiency, compactness, and promptness
with crime. Can this be reallyso? Can it be
of movement,
that you would set aside the obligations
which cannot,from the
of honor
and goodcitizenship, you would dare to sell nature of things, belong to a republic. Despotism
the guilty one away for money,
rather than bring has establishedand sustained much
her to trial,which you know she is readyto meet?
more efficient systems of police than ever a
What would you say, if you
were accused of guilt,
and refused a
republic did. The late King of Prussia,by
trial ? Is not her fair name as
precious
the
to her,in the church to which she belongs, possession of absolute despoticpower
as
yours can be to you ? was enabled to
carry out a much more effi-