DEAR MADAM,—Your request to transmit my name, with a short article, for insertion in your contemplated publication, is before me. I have neither time nor words in which to express my unalterable abhorrence of slavery, with all the odious apologies and blasphemous claims of divine sanction for it, that have been attempted. I regard all attempts, by legislation or otherwise, to give the abominable system “aid and comfort” as involving treason against the government of God, and as insulting the consciences and common sense of men.
The _first effort_ of my early life in narrative writing, was in behalf of those who, in even darker days than these, were preeminently those who, on earth, “had no helper.”
From this tale is selected these few lines—a song introduced into the story—not because it has any poetic merit, but because to me and perhaps to others, it seems interesting from the above circumstance.
Though man neglects my sighing, And mocks the bitter tear, Yet does not God my crying With kindest pity hear?
And when with fierce heat panting His hand can be my shade, And when with weakness fainting Support my aching head.
And when I felt my cares For those his love can save, Will he not hear the prayers Of the poor negro slave?
Yes, for the poor and needy He promises to save, And who is poor and needy Like the poor negro slave?
Ours is a noble cause; nobler even than that of our fathers, inasmuch as it is more exalted to struggle for the freedom of _others_, than for our _own_. The love of right, which is the animating impulse of our movement, is higher even than the love of freedom. But right, freedom, and humanity, all concur in demanding the abolition of slavery.
My Friend,—I have found no moment till the present that I could devote to a compliance with your request, and I am now probably too late. However, let me hastily proffer a few suggestions to opponents of slavery, which I trust may not be found unprofitable. I would say, then:
1. Do not choose to separate and isolate yourselves from the general movement of humanity, save as you may be constrained to oppose certain eddies of that movement. Had WILBERFORCE, CLARKSON, and their associate pioneers in the cause of British abolition, seen fit to cut themselves loose from all pre-existing sects and parties, and form a special anti-slavery church and party, I think the triumph of their cause would have been still unattained.