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Show 302 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN: OR, as Franco and England have done, acknowleUge our position, - then, in the great congress of nations, we wi11 make our appeal, and present the cause of our cnsla.vcd and suffering moo ; and it cannot bo that free, enlightened America. wi11 not then desire to wipe from her escutcheon that bar sinister which disgraces her among nations, and is as truly a curse to her as to the enslaved. "But, you will tell me, our race have equal rights to mingle in the American republic as tho Irishman, the Gorman, the Swede. Granted, they have. We ought to be free to meet and mingle,- to rise by our individual worth, without any considero.tion of caste or color ; and they who deny us this right arc false to their own professed principles of human equality. We ought, in particular, to he allowed here. We have more than the rights of common men;- we lmve the claim of an injured race for reparation. But, then, I do not want it i I want a country, n. nation, of my owu. I think that the African race has peculiarities, yet to be unfolded in the light of civilization and Christianity, which, if not the same with those of the Anglo-Saxon, may prove to be, morally, of even a higher type. "To the Anglo-Saxon race has been intrusted the destinies of the world, during its pioneer period of struggle and conflict. 'l'o that mission its stern, inflexible, energetic clements, ·were well adapted ; but, as a Christian, I look for another era to arise. On its herders I trust we stand; and the throes that now convulse the nations are, to my hope, but the birth-pangs of an hour of universal peace and brotherhood. " I trust that the development of Africa is to be essentially a Christian one. If not a dominant and commanding race, they are, at least, an affectionate, magnanimous, and forgiving one. Having been called in tho furnace of injustice and LIFE AMONG TTIE LOWLY. 303 oppression, they have need to bind closer to their hearts that sublime doctrine of love and forgiveness, through which alone they arc to conquer, which it is to be their mission to spread over the continent of Africa. "In myself, I confess, I am feeble for this,- full half tho blood in my veins is the hot and hasty Saxon; but I have an eloquent preacher of the Gospel ever by my side, in the person of my beautiful wife. When I wander, her gentler spirit m·er restores me, and keeps before my eyes the Christian calling and mission of our race. As a Christian patriot, as a teacher of Christianity, I go to my country,-my chosen, my glorious Africa ! -and to her, in my heart, I sometimes apply those splendid words of prophecy: 'Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee; I will make thee an eternal excellence, n joy of many generations!' "You will call me an enthusiast: you will tell me that I have not well considered what I am undertaking. But I havo considered, and counted the cost. I go to Liberia, not as to an Elysium of romance, but as to afield ofwo,-1,. I expect to work with both hands,- to work lwrd j to work against all sorts of difficulties and discoumgemcnts; and to work till I die. This is what I go for; and in this I am quite sure I shall not be disappointed. "Whatever you may think of my determination, do not divorce me from your confidence i and think that, in whatever I do, I act with a heart wholly given to my people. "GEORGE HARRIS." George, with his wife, children, sister and mother, embarked for Africa, some few weeks after. If we are not mistaken, the world will yet hear from him there. |
