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Show JGO NOTES ON m:1y be nblc to j ntlgc wh:-~t nrc the qualifications of o~c wl10 can: usc ]:intTn:t,..•c thus loosely, to comml'nt on Lcsllmony, anLl iHtcrprc~ lcoga.l docu!llcnts, nnU m:ly n_ot thcrcf~rc be surpri.-3ct1, if he fiml~ her, in the sequel, mvolvcU m the most ludicrous blunders. So mud1 for the " personal observation:" now for tl~c testimony. This, the reader, after wl.1:1t l.ws been s::t.ld nbovc, will not be at all ~urpriscd to hnd~ 1s, rnu.ch of 1t, the ex partG testimony of runawny sl~vcs agmnst then· ma~tcr or mistress ai\·cn without the snnctwn of an oath and With~ out opport~1~ity for cross-examination; all whit.:h, ~cvcrthclcss, the author is so "verdan t," (to usc one ot her own expressions,) <18 to expect us to take for. gospel! H er first witness of thi8 kind is Lew1:5 Clark, her scconrl, Frederick Douglass, and her third, Josiah H enson ; (sec chap. iv. pp. 13, 10.). "Now all these incidents .~hat h01•c been given [in the pages hero rdencd to,] arc, she tells us " 1·eal''f. inciJcnts of slavery, related by those who know sl:~very by the best of nll tcsts-cxpcricn~c ;" and she naively adds, a. few sentences after: "It 18 supposed by many that the g1·cat outcry among those who arc opposed to sbvery comes from a. morLid reading of unauthenticated accounts gotten up in Abolition papers, &c. 'l'his idea is a very mist~kcn one. 'J'ho accounts ':·hich ~c~l ugain.st the sbvc~sybtcm arc derived from the contnntal l!vmg tc.sttmony of the p~or sLl\·c himself; ojlcn from that of the fugitive~ from sl.t.vcry who arc continually passing through our Northern citirs. As a. specimen of some of the incidents thus ~.,levelopc.J, is given Lhc fullO\Ving f~lCt Of recent OCCUr· ronco," &c., &c. ; (p. 1D. ). Now I am riot going to deny the truth of their st:~tcrnents, but I do sa v that the testimony of :t runaway apprentice,und they do run away,.somctimes, witness the advertise~ • 'fhe i~alics aro hen;. U 'N (' 1, !·~ T 0 .\1 'S CAnt N . JGl ments so common in the Northern newspapers, headed, "A basket of chips reward!" "One cent reward, and no charges pai~l !"-I sny the testimony of a. r unaway apprentice against his master or mistrcs~ would. be received cum 91·ano salis, wi th a gmin,--a,y, with a. good many grains of n.llowance, and I tlo not sec why a colored skin should gain more credence for its possessor than n. white one. I said I was not going to deny the truth of the statements, but it may be well to give a specimen of them, that the reader may know what it is he is expccteLl to gulp down. So, here goes! "Gape, sinner, and swall ow!"*~ "'l'he sb.ves often say, when cut in the bantl or foot 'Pla"UC on the o]d foot' or 'the old hand! I t is mastcr's,.:__lct htm take ca.rc of it. Nigger don't care if he never get well.'" ('l'cstimony of Lewis Clark, last paragraph, p. 1G.) St. 1\tul sa.ys tha,t ''No man C\'CI" yet hated his own flesh; but now·isheth and chcrishcth it;" (Eph. v. 2D,) : but S t. l'aul didn't Jive in the nineteenth century. ~fhc same Apostle says in the preceding Yci·sc, "So ought men .to lo\'e their wives as their own bodies;" but, if L ewis Clark and 1\Irs. Stowe arc both to be believed, Quashy has z'rnp1·oved 7.t.pon the Apostle, for l1e loves his wife, ay , and his chihlren, too, bette1· than his own body : otherwise, he would say, when part~d from them, " ])Iague on de ole woma,n ! l)!nguc on de l1ttle woolly-head! They arc master's,-let him take care on 'em. Nigger don't care if be never sec 'em aga.ii1.'' So much for testimony. ~rho U~rd kind of evidence is published documents, &c., and th~sc, 1.1s I have not tlic means of authenticating them, or testmg the t ruth of their statements, I shaH let pas3 for what they are worth. And what m·e they worth '? " That is the whole evidence of the book, that from personal observation, that from tcsti . 21 * .1feg llferrilies. o·=< |