Aunt Philliss Cabin | Page 6

the representation of that which they consider a
part of their property, we do not wish to diminish them. The right by
which this property is held is derived from the Federal Constitution; we
have neither inclination nor power to interfere with the laws of existing
States in this particular; on the contrary, they have not only a right to
reclaim their fugitives whenever found, but, in the event of domestic
violence, (which God in his mercy forever avert!) the whole strength of
the nation is bound to be exerted, if needful, in reducing it to subjection,
while we recognize these obligations and will never fail to perform
them."
How many more could be brought! opinions of great and good men of
the North, acknowledging and maintaining the rights of the people of
the South. Everett, Adams, Cambreleng, and a host of others, whose
names I need not give. "Time was," said Mr. Fletcher in Boston, (in
1835, at a great meeting in that city,) "when such sentiments and such
language would not have been breathed in this community. And here,
on this hallowed spot, of all places on earth, should they be met and
rebuked. Time was, when the British Parliament having declared 'that
they had a right to bind us in all cases whatsoever,' and were attempting
to bind our infant limbs in fetters, when a voice of resistance and notes
of defiance had gone forth from this hall, then, when Massachusetts,
standing for her liberty and life, was alone breasting the whole power
of Britain, the generous and gallant Southerners came to our aid, and
our fathers refused not to hold communion with slaveholders. When the
blood of our citizens, shed by a British soldiery, had stained our streets
and flowed upon the heights that surround us, and sunk into the earth
upon the plains of Lexington and Concord, then when he, whose name
can never be pronounced by American lips without the strongest
emotion of gratitude and love to every American heart,--when he, that
slaveholder, (pointing to a full-length portrait of Washington,) who,
from this canvass, smiles upon his children with paternal benignity,
came with other slaveholders to drive the British myrmidons from this
city, and in this hall our fathers did not refuse to hold communion with
them.

"With slaveholders they formed the confederation, neither asking nor
receiving any right to interfere in their domestic relations: with them,
they made the Declaration of Independence."
To England, not to the United States, belongs whatever odium may be
attached to the introduction of slavery into our country. Our fathers
abolished the slave-trade, but permitted the continuation of domestic
slavery.
Slavery, authorized by God, permitted by Jesus Christ, sanctioned by
the apostles, maintained by good men of all ages, is still existing in a
portion of our beloved country. How long it will continue, or whether it
will ever cease, the Almighty Ruler of the universe can alone
determine.
I do not intend to give a history of Abolition. Born in fanaticism,
nurtured in violence and disorder, it exists too. Turning aside the
institutions and commands of God, treading under foot the love of
country, despising the laws of nature and the nation, it is dead to every
feeling of patriotism and brotherly kindness; full of strife and pride,
strewing the path of the slave with thorns and of the master with
difficulties, accomplishing nothing good, forever creating disturbance.
The negroes are still slaves--"while the American slaveholders,
collectively and individually, ask no favours of any man or race that
treads the earth. In none of the attributes of men, mental or physical, do
they acknowledge or fear superiority elsewhere. They stand in the
broadest light of the knowledge, civilization, and improvement of the
age, as much favored of Heaven as any other of the sons of Adam."

AUNT PHILLIS'S CABIN.
CHAPTER I.
There would be little to strike the eye of a traveler accustomed to
picturesque scenes, on approaching the small town of L----. Like most

of the settlements in Virginia, the irregularity of the streets and the
want of similarity in the houses would give an unfavorable first
impression. The old Episcopal church, standing at the entrance of the
town, could not fail to be attractive from its appearance of age; but
from this alone. No monuments adorn the churchyard; head-stones of
all sizes meet the eye, some worn and leaning against a shrub or tree for
support, others new and white, and glistening in the sunset. Several
family vaults, unpretending in their appearance, are perceived on a
closer scrutiny, to which the plants usually found in burial-grounds are
clinging, shadowed too by large trees. The walls where they are visible
are worn and discolored, but they are almost covered with ivy, clad in
summer's deepest green. Many