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Show 344 Mrs. Ma{on & Mrs. Child. Looking at the sy-tem of Slavery in the light of all this eYidt nee, <!o yon candidly think wr dc~c·rvc' two-fold tl:lmnation" for tl •testing it? Can you 11:1t believe that we may hate tlH' sy::.tcm, and yet be truly your friends? I make :tllowuncc for the cxcile<1 ~tate of your mind, and for the pr<'.itldic('S inrlu c·ed uy education. I tlo not care to ·hnng1, your opin ion of nw; but ] do wi:-;h you coultl be pcrsund<'d to cxarninc this Ful,_jc('t di:;passionatcly, for the ake of the prOf'JWrity of Virgini: t, nntl the welfare of unborn generations, both white and colon•d. For thirty years, Abolitioni ·ts have been trying to rea:-.on with slaveholder::;, through the press, anti in the halls of Congrc~s. Their effort , though directed to the musters Ollf!J, have ueen met with violence and alJu:;c a]mo;-;t <'f!U:tl to that. poured on the head of John Brown. Yet . urcly Wt', a a portion of the Union, involved in tl1e expcn:->r, the dt•gt•JH.' I':tey, the darwPr, .and the di~grnce, of this iuiqu ito us n.nd f:ttal system, have a 'rigltt to speak auout it, :111<1 ~ riglrt to be !tcard also. At the North, we willingly publish Pro-Sla\'ory ar~umcnt~, and a~k only a fair field :llltl no f~n·o r for the other ide. But you will not even allow your own cit iz<·n.' a chance to examine this important uujcet. Your ll'tt<'r to me i:1 puuli~ h c<.l in Northern paper~, a ' well as Soutl)('J'll; but my reply will not be :d lowe<.l to appear in :my tioutlwrn pnpcr. The dc:-:potic mensurcs you take to silence in vestigntion, nnt1 . hut out the light from your own white population, prove - how little r eliance you have on the strength of your cause. ln this (•nligl1tened ng<', nil dcspoti ms ougllt to come to an rnc1 by the agen<·y of mom! nnd rational menn:-. But if th t>y rcsi . .;t . nch ng<'ncir., it i~ in the order of' Providence that tlwy must come to an ell(r hy violc>nc·c·. IJi ~ tory i: full of !" ll<'lt l<' . ..:~ons. '\Vould that. the V<:il of' prc•ju<1iv<~ conld b<' n•nw,·etl from your ey ·s. If' you would c:u~tlidly c•xaminr the f:taternents of Gover11or Ilin<:ks of tl1e Briti:dl \\Test l11<1ie:-:, and of the He;v. l\h. Bleeby, long time a. l\li:ssionn ry in those l · land~, both before and after emancipation, yon could not fail tiJ ue Mrs. Mafon & Mrs. Child. .)45 convinced that Cash is a more powcrf11l incentive to labor thnn the La .. h, and far safer al -o. One fact in relation to those I land: i- very sign ifi ant. 'Vhile the working-people were slaves, it was alway~ neccs. ary to order out the military durinrr the Christ mas holiday. ; but, since emancipation, not a soldie7. is to be seen. A llllndr·cd John Brown might land there without exciting the sl ighte. t alarm. ' To the pcr~onal quc-tions you a. k me, I will reply in tire name of all tl1e women of New-England. It would be extremely difTicult to find any woman in ou1· village. ,vho docs not ew for the poor, and watch with the . ick, whenever occasion rrquires. 'V ' pay our dome. tic g nerou wages, with which they can purcha:e a many Christmas gown. as they plea. e; a process far better for their characters, as weB a. ou 1 • own, than to receive their clothing ns a elrarity, after beinodcprived of ju t payment for tl1eir lauor. I have never know~ an in tance where the "pangs of matcmity" diu not meet with r<'qui itc assi~tanee; and here nt the North, after we have lJClped the mothers, we do not sell the babie~. I readily b •lieve what you state concerning the kindness of many Virginia matron . It is creditabl, to their· heart:=;; but aft ·r all, the be ·t that can be <lone in 1 bat way i. a poor equivalent. for the perpetual wrong don to the f'iave., aml the terrible liabilitic:-> to which th y nrc always subject. Kind rna ·ters and mi. trc . es among you arc merely lnrky accidents. If any one clwoses to be a brutal de~pot, your laws and customs give him complete power to do o. Aud the lot of tho e slaves who have the kin<le,::;t ma~lrr:; is exceedingly prrca.riou . In rnsc of death, or pecnniary difficul ties, or marriages in th f:unily, they may at any time be suddenly tran ferrcd from protection and indulg ' nce to personal degradation, or extreme cverity; and if th<·y . honld try to C'eape from such su{T' ·rings, any body is authorized to .. hoot them down like dogs. 1Vith regard to your declaration that "no Southerner ought |
