Volume I Part 41 (1/2)
ADDRESS TO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES.
DEAR FRIENDS:--In that love for our cause which knows not the fear of man, we address you in confidence that our motives will be understood and regarded. We fear not censure from you for going beyond the circle which has been drawn around us by physical force, by mental usurpation, by the usages of ages; not any one of which can we admit gives the right to prescribe it; else might the monarchs of the old world sit firmly on their thrones, the n.o.bility of Europe lord it over the man of low degree, and the chains we are now seeking to break, continue riveted, on the neck of the slave. Our faith goes not back to the wigwam of the savage, or the castle of the feudal chief, but would rather soar with hope to that period when ”right alone shall make might”; when the truncheon and the sword shall lie useless; when the intellect and heart shall speak and be obeyed; when ”He alone whose right it is shall rule and reign in the hearts of the children of men.”
We are told that it is not within ”the province of woman” to discuss the subject of slavery; that it is a ”political question,” and that we are ”stepping out of our sphere” when we take part in its discussion. It is not true that it is merely a political question; it is likewise a question of justice, of humanity, of morality, of religion; a question which, while it involves considerations of immense importance to the welfare, and prosperity of our country, enters deeply into the home--concerns the every-day feelings of millions of our fellow beings. Whether the laborer shall receive the reward of his labor, or be driven daily to unrequited toil: whether he shall walk erect in the dignity of conscious manhood, or be reckoned among the beasts which perish; whether his bones and sinews shall be his own, or another's; whether his child shall receive the protection of its natural guardian, or be ranked among the live-stock of the estate, to be disposed of as the caprice or interest of the master may dictate; whether the sun of knowledge shall irradiate the hut of the peasant, or the murky cloud of ignorance brood darkly over it; whether ”every one shall have the liberty to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d according to the dictates of his own conscience,” or man a.s.sume the prerogative of Jehovah and impiously seek to plant himself upon the throne of the Almighty. These considerations are all involved in the question of liberty or slavery.
And is a subject comprehending interests of such magnitude, merely a ”political question,” and one in which woman ”can take no part without losing something of the modesty and gentleness which are her most appropriate ornaments”? May not the ”ornament of a meek and quiet spirit” exist with an upright mind and enlightened intellect? Must woman necessarily be less gentle because her heart is open to the claims of humanity, or less modest because she feels for the degradation of her enslaved sisters, and would stretch forth her hand for their rescue?
By the Const.i.tution of the United States, the whole physical power of the North is pledged for the suppression of domestic insurrections; and should the slaves maddened by oppression endeavor to shake off the yoke of the task-master, the men of the North are bound to make common cause with the tyrant, to put down at the point of the bayonet every effort on the part of the slave for the attainment of his freedom. And when the father, husband, son, and brother shall have left their homes to mingle in the unholy warfare; ”to become the executioners of their brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands,” will the mother, wife, daughter, and sister feel that they have no interest in this subject? Will it be easy to convince them that it is no concern of theirs, that their homes are rendered desolate and their habitations the abodes of wretchedness? Surely this consideration is of itself sufficient to arouse the slumbering energies of woman, for the overthrow of a system which thus threatens to lay in ruins the fabric of her domestic happiness; and she will not be deterred from the performance of her duty to herself, her family, and her country, by the cry of ”political question.”
But, admitting it to be a political question, have we no interest in the welfare of our country? May we not permit a thought to stray beyond the narrow limits of our own family circle and of the present hour? May we not breathe a sigh over the miseries of our countrywomen nor utter a word of remonstrance against the unjust laws that are crus.h.i.+ng them to the earth? Must we witness ”the headlong rage of heedless folly” with which our nation is rus.h.i.+ng onward to destruction, and not seek to arrest its downward course? Shall we silently behold the land which we love with all the heart-warm affection of children, rendered a hissing and a reproach throughout the world by the system which is already ”tolling the death-knell of her decease among the nations”?
No; the events of the last two years have ”cast their dark shadows before,” overclouding the bright prospects of the future, and shrouding our country in more than midnight gloom; and we can not remain inactive. Our country is as dear to us as to the proudest statesman; and the more closely our hearts cling to ”our altars and our homes,” the more fervent are our aspirations, that every inhabitant of our land may be protected in his fireside enjoyments by just and equal laws; that the foot of the tyrant may no longer invade the domestic sanctuary, nor his hand tear asunder those whom G.o.d himself has united by the most holy ties.
Let our course then still be onward! Justice, humanity, patriotism; every high and every holy motive urge us forward, and we dare not refuse to obey. The way of duty lies open before us, and though no pillar of fire be visible to the outward sense, yet an unerring light shall illumine our pathway, guiding us through the sea of persecution and the wilderness of prejudice and error, to the promised land of freedom, where ”every man shall sit under his own vine and fig-tree, and none shall make him afraid.”
THANKFUL SOUTHWICK[64] moved the following:
_Resolved_, That it is the duty of all those who call themselves Abolitionists, to make the most vigorous efforts to procure for the use of their families the products of FREE LABOR, so that their hands may be clean in this particular when inquisition is made for blood.
ESTHER MOORE made remarks upon the importance of carrying into effect the resolutions that had been pa.s.sed.
This was the last meeting held in Pennsylvania Hall! Business connected with the safety of the building made it necessary for members of the board of managers to pa.s.s several times through the saloon, when this Convention was in session, and they said
they never saw a more dignified, calm, and intrepid body of persons a.s.sembled. Although the building was surrounded all day by the mob who crowded about the doors, and at times even attempted to enter the saloon, yet the women were perfectly collected, unmoved by the threatening tempest. The cause which they were a.s.sembled to promote is one that nerves the soul to deeds of n.o.ble daring. The Convention had already adjourned late in the afternoon, when the mob which destroyed the building began to a.s.semble. The doors were blocked up by the crowd, and the streets almost impa.s.sable from the mult.i.tude of ”fellows of the baser sort.” But these ”American Women” pa.s.sed through the whole without manifesting any sign of fear, as if conscious of their own greatness and of the protecting care of the G.o.d of the oppressed.
We give our readers these interesting pages of anti-slavery history because they were the initiative steps to organized public action and the Woman Suffrage Movement _per se_, and to show how much more enthusiasm women manifested in securing freedom for the slaves, than they ever have in demanding justice and equality for themselves. Where are the societies to rescue unfortunate women from the bondage they suffer under unjust law? Where are the loving friends who keep midnight vigils with young girls arraigned in the courts for infanticide? Where are the underground railroads and watchful friends at every point to help fugitive wives from brutal husbands? The most intelligent, educated women seem utterly oblivious to the wrongs of their own s.e.x; even those who so bravely fought the anti-slavery battle have never struck as stout blows against the tyranny suffered by women.
Take, for example, the resolution presented by Mary Grew, and pa.s.sed in the Woman's Anti-Slavery Convention forty-three years ago, declaring that it was the Christian duty of every woman to withdraw from all churches that fellows.h.i.+ped with slavery, which was a sin against G.o.d and man. Compare the conscience and religious earnestness for a principle implied in such a resolution with the apathy and supineness of the women of to-day. No such resolution has ever yet pa.s.sed a woman's rights convention. And yet is injustice to a colored man a greater sin than to a woman? Is liberty and equality more sweet to him than to her! Is the declaration by the Church that woman may not be ordained or licensed to preach the Gospel, no matter how well fitted, how learned or devout, because of her s.e.x, less insulting and degrading than the old custom of the negro pew?
The att.i.tude of the Church to-day is more hostile and insulting to American womanhood than it ever was to the black man, by just so much as women are nearer the equals of priests and bishops than were the unlettered slaves. When women refuse to enter churches that do not recognize them as equal candidates for the joys of earth and heaven, equal in the sight of man and G.o.d, we shall have a glorious revival of liberty and justice everywhere.
How fully these pages of history ill.u.s.trate the equal share woman has had in the trials and triumphs of all the political and moral revolutions through which we have pa.s.sed, from feeble colonies to an independent nation; suffering with man the miseries of poverty and war, all the evils of bad government, and enjoying with him the blessings of luxury and peace, and a wise administration of law. The experience of the heroines of anti-slavery show that no finespun sentimentalism in regard to woman's position in the clouds ever exempt her from the duties or penalties of a citizen. Neither State officers, nor mobs in the whirlwind of pa.s.sion, tempered their violence for her safety or benefit.
When women proposed to hold a fair in Concert Hall, their flag was torn down from the street, while they and their property were ejected by the high constable. When women were speaking in Pennsylvania Hall, brickbats were hurled at, them through the windows. When women searched Philadelphia through for a place where they might meet to speak and pray for the slave-mother and her child (the most miserable of human beings), halls and churches were closed against them. And who were these women? Eloquent speakers, able writers, dignified wives and mothers, the most moral, religious, refined, cultured, intelligent citizens that Ma.s.sachusetts, New York, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania could boast. There never was a queen on any European throne possessed of more personal beauty, grace, and dignity than Maria Weston Chapman.[65] The calmness and impa.s.sioned earnestness of Angelina Grimke, speaking nearly an hour 'mid that howling mob, was not surpa.s.sed in courage and consecration even by Paul among the wild beasts at Ephesus. Here she made her last public speech, and as the glowing words died upon her lips, a new voice was heard, rich, deep, and clear upon the troubled air; and the mantle of self-sacrifice, so faithfully worn by South Carolina's brave daughter, henceforth rested on the shoulders of an equally brave and eloquent Quaker girl from Ma.s.sachusetts,[66] who for many years afterward preached the same glad tidings of justice, equality, and liberty for all.
TEMPERANCE.
In this reform, also, the women of Pennsylvania took an equally active part. We are indebted to Hannah Darlington, of Kennett Square, Chester Co., for the following record of the temperance work in this State:
KENNETT SQUARE, 2 mo., 6, 1881.
DEAR MRS. STANTON:--I did not think our early temperance work of sufficient account to preserve the reports, hence with considerable research am able to send you but very little. Many mixed meetings were held through the county before 1847.
Woods-meetings, with decorated stands, were fas.h.i.+onable in Chester in warm weather, for several years before we branched off with a call for a public meeting. That brought quite a number together in Friends' Meeting-house at Kennett Square, where we discussed plans for work and appointed committees to carry them out.
Sidney Peirce, Ann Preston, and myself, each prepared addresses to read at meetings called in such places as the Committee arranged; and with Chandler Darlington to drive us from place to place, we addressed many large audiences, some in the day-time and some in the evening; scattered appeals and tracts, and collected names to pet.i.tions asking for a law against licensing liquor-stands.
In 1848, we went to Harrisburg, taking an address to the Legislature written by Ann Preston, and sanctioned by the meeting that appointed us. The address, with our credentials and pet.i.tions, was presented to the two Houses, read in our presence, and referred to the Committee on ”Vice and Immorality,” which called a meeting and invited us to give our address. Sidney Peirce, who was a good reader, gave it with effect to a large roomful of the Committee and legislators. It was listened to with profound attention, complimented highly, and I think aroused a disposition among the best members to give the cause of temperance more careful consideration. The Local Option Law was pa.s.sed by that Legislature.
We also aided the mixed meetings by our presence and addresses, and by circulating pet.i.tions, and publis.h.i.+ng appeals in the county papers; helping in every way to arouse discussion and prepare the people to sustain the new law. But the Supreme Court of the State, through the liquor influence, declared the law unconst.i.tutional, after a few months' successful trial. Drinking, however, has not been as respectable since that time. We continued active work in our a.s.sociation until the inauguration of the Good Templars movement, in which men and women worked together on terms of equality.
Respectfully yours, HANNAH M. DARLINGTON.
TEMPERANCE CONVENTION.